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Help[Facts] Re: Jezebel and Isabel
in reply to a message by Magda
I've been thinking of the very same thing myself. There has to be a connection of some sort. I wonder how come Isabel became such a popular name from early on? People surely must've made the association to the wicked Jezebel.
They say that Isabel comes from Italian and is a variant of Elisabeth (Elisabella -> Isabella). Then again, isn't the "bel" in Jezebel somehow related to the "bel" in Belzebub?
They say that Isabel comes from Italian and is a variant of Elisabeth (Elisabella -> Isabella). Then again, isn't the "bel" in Jezebel somehow related to the "bel" in Belzebub?
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Replies
Jezebel and Beelzebub
are indeed related, but not necessarily that way.
Beelzebub - originally Ba'al-zvuv ("lord of flies").
Ba'al (meaning "lord" or "owner") was a name of a canaanite god, and Jezebel was a leader of the Ba'al followers.
But the "bel" in Jesebal is originally "vel", and the "beel" in "beelzebub" is "ba'al" - sounds and spelled differently, so I don't know.
are indeed related, but not necessarily that way.
Beelzebub - originally Ba'al-zvuv ("lord of flies").
Ba'al (meaning "lord" or "owner") was a name of a canaanite god, and Jezebel was a leader of the Ba'al followers.
But the "bel" in Jesebal is originally "vel", and the "beel" in "beelzebub" is "ba'al" - sounds and spelled differently, so I don't know.
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Ba'al is not "a" Canaanite god. The word was used as a title for many Canaanite gods, and originally for YHWH as well. In other contexts it is translated "master", "owner", "husband", or "citizen". Beelzebub is a derogatory Hebrew pun on the name of one such god. The OT refers to "the Baals", and reformers seeking to purify Hebrew religious practice insisted that YHWH was not just one of the many Baals and the title is only used of foreign gods in the received texts. Be'l is the common Chaldean form, Ba'l or Ba'al the Phoenician/Punic (as in Hannibal). Jezebel itself may be a derogatory Hebrew pun on her Phoenician name, in reference to her being "thrown down" to her death.
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