Hebrew first name

[alviau]

This site looks like a great resource. My wife and I have occasional questions on Hebrew and Greek meanings in the Bible so I'm glad I found it.

Right now, I got a different question though.

We named our first children Hadassah and Asahel. We think that such names can really honor God by their meaning. We still want to use a meaningful hebrew name for the third one we expect soon (a boy). We liked Zakai, but we want something a bit longer. So we decided to make things more complex.

1- We were wondering if this would still make sense if we superposed Ish (being/there is) + Zakai (pure). We got this idea while looking at Issacar's etymology (Ish + sakar). We're not used to inventing new names This wasn't our initial plan but we are having a hard time selecting a name!

2- The other thing is that we'd like it to be spelled Isacai. In French (because we speak French obviously), s can be pronouced z so I figured it could work as long as the name is pronounced i-Zah-KIE. Am I right?

From what I understand, it's important that the name keeps the correct pronunciation if we want to keep the hebrew meaning. Right? We don't just want a name that sounds good, we want it to mean the intended meaning.

Our criteria is: if a Hebrew speaker hears the name, will he understand 'ish zakai'.

Thanks a lot for your help. I'm really looking forward to your answer(s).

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Zakai: https://www.kidpaw.com/names/zakai/pron ... 20religion

[Jason Hare]

i-zah-KIE would not be heard as a Hebrew name, though you might argue for a Hebrew root for it in French. That’s up to you.

[alviau]

Thanks for your answer, I appreciate.

OK, I'd like to ask some other questions just to make sure I understand the mechanic behind this.

Why doesn't it work? Is that because the 'i' in i-Zah-KIE should be replaced by the whole pronunciation of 'Ish' (in English: there is, being). Would it have to be pronounced: eesh-Zah-KIE?

If yes, it would sound a bit odd for French speakers. I wonder if there could be an alternative in the pronunciation.

Or am I not even closed of making sense in my suggestions?

ish: https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicon ... s/ish.html (phonetic: eesh)

Maybe we should just stick to existing names! Don't worry, I won't try to invent names for hours.

Thanks again anyway.

[Jason Hare]

When you write KIE, do you mean קַי /kɑɪ/ or קִי /kiː/? The former is closer to the Hebrew sound, but I don’t know what these representations mean exactly in your writing.

[Jason Hare]

Or am I not even closed of making sense in my suggestions?

I don’t know French, so I can’t say how things might sound to a French-speaker’s ear. I don’t know of a Hebrew name that combines אִישׁ with זַכַּאי into a single form. It would certainly do something interesting having the š fall right up against the z, both being sibilants. The š might well just become absorbed into the z, so that we might see אִישְׁזַכַּאי becoming אִיזַּכַּאי, though (again) this isn’t a name that we really find in Hebrew.

My curiosity is in why you wouldn’t prefer a real name (one that is attested and has been used in the past) instead of making up your own name? I mean, זַכַּאי is a real name in Hebrew; so, why not just use it?

[alviau]

Thanks again.

Oh sorry, I thought KIE would be a proper written version of the sound. Yes, I mean the former: /kɑɪ/. Good point!

The reason why we don't just pick Zakai is that we find it a bit short but, in the end, we might change our mind. I concede that we are quite picky. Sorry about that! It's about personal preferences I guess. Zakai, Izakai, Issacar... whatever the name we select, all of those are pretty much as much inexistant (uncommon) here in Canada.

Your messages were clear, I think I got the answers I was looking for.

In summary:
- אִיזַּכַּאי (Izakai) would mean 'being pure' but this is not an actual name
- so we could use it if our criteria is the meaning first
- since we speak French and names' pronunciations may vary in different languages, our suggested spelling could be debattable... even if a bit audacious

Please correct me if I am wrong.

God bless, I'll come back here to learn more about biblical hebrew meanings for sure.

[Jason Hare]

Oh sorry, I thought KIE would be a proper written version of the sound. Yes, I mean the former: /kɑɪ/. Good point!

Excellent.

The reason why we don't just pick Zakai is that we find it a bit short but, in the end, we might change our mind.

Gotcha.

I concede that we are quite picky. Sorry about that! It's about personal preferences I guess. Zakai, Izakai, Issacar... whatever the name we select, all of those are pretty much as much inexistant (uncommon) here in Canada.

HALOT gives the etymology as אִישׁ “man” and שָׂכָר “wage” as “man of wage,” meaning a laborer who works for his wages. This is what HALOT has to say:

etym. (expl. as from שָׂכָר Gn 30:16, 18): שָׂכָר + I אִישׁ labourer (Bergsträsser 1:105t) or יֵשׁ שָׂכָר‎ (= II אִישׁ): < *yistakar (iftaʿal, Albright ZAW 44:2344) or šafʿel (De Langhe Textes 85f) “El gives a reward”...

⟨Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 443.⟩

So, they are suggesting two possible etymologies. One is what I have just mentioned, and the other is that it might be a verbal form implying that God (El) gives reward (to those who serve him), some kind of causative denominative root of שכ״ר. It seems to me that the former is more likely. I don’t take it to be the existential particle יֵשׁ.

- אִיזַּכַּאי (Izakai) would mean 'being pure' but this is not an actual name

I would take it to mean something like “innocent man.”

Best wishes,
Jason