Mary
The name Mary is of uncertain origin. From Hebrew, it may mean “bitterness” or “rebelliousness”. However, it could instead have been borrowed into Hebrew from an Egyptian root such as mry, “beloved”, or mr, “love”. Regardless, in the Bible it appears first in the form of Miryam, sister of Moses; and considering Moses’s career, perhaps the Hebrew meanings were not so inappropriate.
In Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, the name was Maryam, and of course this is real the name of Jesus’s mother. (Jesus’s Aramaic name was Jeshua.) In Greek the name was translated as Maria or Mariam, in Latin Maria, and in English Mary.
Energetically, Mary is a name of power — specifically, powerful manifestation, balanced and evenly modulated. It’s no accident that the name is so similar in sound to marriage, more, and mirror. In many languages, the m-r combination is found in words for the sea.
Hats off to Slade for inspiring this word!
June 13th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Thanks Jeff!
I must say that the “rebellious” aspect of Mary’s name was at first surprising to me, but I also felt some delight in that. The more I contemplate it, the more it makes sense to me.
Mary, Mother of Jesus’ story is obviously one with many aspects of social rebellion.
La mere, in French, the sea, has shown up in the name of a French city, as well as in stories of Mary Magdalene’s voyage to Europe after Jesus’ death…
Even Tori Amos has a song about this “Marys of the Sea.”