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ArchivesSabrina - origin
Hi !!!
In some sources I found that Sabrina has a double root.
One is the Welsh river and this one is written in the database.
The other one is that Sabrina is an European form of Sabra (צברה) the word for an Israeli-born woman that actually has the same root of 'patient'.
The word Sabra itself comes from 'Tzabar' (same root) meaning 'cactus, Indian fig'. Israeli-born people are called like these plants because when European Jews firstly went in Israel with Zionism the ambiental choc was great (a desert-like and Middle-Eastern country) so they had to be as strong as those plants to build a new home.
The word 'tzabar' itself comes from the Semitic root s-b-r for 'patience' (צבר in Hebrew and صبر in Arabic) because that plants could be strong and patient to grow up in the desert.
So the passages are:
root s-b-r (patience/patience) - tzabar (cactus, fig) - sabra ('patient' later Israeli-born woman) - Sabrina (European form)
Has anyone else read, heard, noticed this origin of Sabrina? It could be true right? Names could have two different roots at the same time.
Personal Name Lists https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/125456
In some sources I found that Sabrina has a double root.
One is the Welsh river and this one is written in the database.
The other one is that Sabrina is an European form of Sabra (צברה) the word for an Israeli-born woman that actually has the same root of 'patient'.
The word Sabra itself comes from 'Tzabar' (same root) meaning 'cactus, Indian fig'. Israeli-born people are called like these plants because when European Jews firstly went in Israel with Zionism the ambiental choc was great (a desert-like and Middle-Eastern country) so they had to be as strong as those plants to build a new home.
The word 'tzabar' itself comes from the Semitic root s-b-r for 'patience' (צבר in Hebrew and صبر in Arabic) because that plants could be strong and patient to grow up in the desert.
So the passages are:
root s-b-r (patience/patience) - tzabar (cactus, fig) - sabra ('patient' later Israeli-born woman) - Sabrina (European form)
Has anyone else read, heard, noticed this origin of Sabrina? It could be true right? Names could have two different roots at the same time.
Personal Name Lists https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/125456
This message was edited 12/1/2018, 2:31 PM
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Replies
I suppose that it isn't really the same name with two different roots. That would be strange. Sabrina the river got its name long before any English-speakers had ever encountered a prickly pear - in fact, long before there were English people in Britain. My guess would be that if someone named a child Sabrina rather than Sabra but wanted the Israeli reference, then they'd pretty certainly be Jewish themselves. And a child named Sabrina who wasn't in any way connected to Israel would identify with the river, or the character in Milton's Comus.
I've never met anyone named Sabra, though there used to be a brand of tights (which laddered as quickly as any others) and a chocolate-orange liqueur (very nice) with the name. Both made in Israel.
I've never met anyone named Sabra, though there used to be a brand of tights (which laddered as quickly as any others) and a chocolate-orange liqueur (very nice) with the name. Both made in Israel.
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Originally different names often nave convergent derivatives, but in this case it seems another example of, not-quite "folk-etymology", but a tendency to create a fictional origin that fits the current circumstances. It is noticeable among Jewish families wanting to Hebraicize especially Germanic or Arabic names, but there is a similar desire even among many non-Jews to fabricate a Hebrew origin for non-Hebrew names. Entire books have been written by people trying to do it. If you try hard enough you can derive every name and every word from any language you desire, and people have. In reality though it's slightly bonkers. Even "traditional" Hebrew names are derived from many surrounding cultures, not even just the related Canaanite or Semitic - particularly Egyptian, Sumerian, Hittite and Philistine (believed to be related to Mycenaean Greek); no different to modern English naming practice (or anywhere else at any time, despite as much as anyone may later try and "purify" things).
This message was edited 11/20/2020, 6:57 AM
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