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ArchivesRe: Sabrina - origin
in reply to a message by Felie
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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