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HelpRe: Beulah
in reply to a message by queenv
This comment sums it up
My roommate first mentioned the name Beulah to me, and I've been finding it more and more in my law hypos as I study for the California Bar, so it prompted me to find this site.
I was hoping it wasn't actually from the Hebrew b'ula, but apparently it is. It really doesn't mean a married woman. I mean we hope she's married, but it just means a woman who's been around the block (not necessarily slutty, but it means a woman who's had sex), as opposed to a b'tula - virgin. It's used a lot in Jewish legal texts (g'mara / talmud) to mean an unmarried woman who is unchaste, for purposes of measuring dowry, or fitness for marrying the kohen gadol (High Priest), which is where I know it from better than y'shaya (Isiah).
It is related to the word for husband - baal (or owner), but so is one of the Hebrew words for sex (b'ila, livol - to have sex).
How this got to be a name in English is beyond me.
My roommate first mentioned the name Beulah to me, and I've been finding it more and more in my law hypos as I study for the California Bar, so it prompted me to find this site.
I was hoping it wasn't actually from the Hebrew b'ula, but apparently it is. It really doesn't mean a married woman. I mean we hope she's married, but it just means a woman who's been around the block (not necessarily slutty, but it means a woman who's had sex), as opposed to a b'tula - virgin. It's used a lot in Jewish legal texts (g'mara / talmud) to mean an unmarried woman who is unchaste, for purposes of measuring dowry, or fitness for marrying the kohen gadol (High Priest), which is where I know it from better than y'shaya (Isiah).
It is related to the word for husband - baal (or owner), but so is one of the Hebrew words for sex (b'ila, livol - to have sex).
How this got to be a name in English is beyond me.
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Replies
Interesting. Probably not usable for Jews who aren't very secular and by Jewish Israelis in general, but apparently it can refer to the Land of Israel as well? So that would be a more positive association, at least in certain religious contexts.
Anyway, all sorts of weird stuff gets to be a name.
Anyway, all sorts of weird stuff gets to be a name.
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This makes me super proud and protective of Beulah. You go around that block, girl. That kohen gadol doesn't even deserve you.
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Yep. Whore was alwsys a great way to stigmatize any woman with any sort of independent streak. still is unfortunately
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