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The Meaning of the name Esther
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
In the book of Esther ii, 7, we are told that Mordecai brought up his niece Hadassah, and it adds “Hadassah that is Esther” 
. While it has been generally recognized that 
is the feminine of 
“Myrtle” which occurs several times in the Bible (Is. xli, 19; lv, 13; Zach. i, 8, 10, 11; Neh. viii, 15), there has never been any clear and definite opinion as to the meaning of Esther. Already in olden times it was felt that Esther was of foreign origin, but no one thought that 
meant to convey that there was an identity of meaning in both names. Thus, we find in the Bab Talmud, Megilla 13A, that Rabbi Nehemia was of the opinion that her name was Hadassah, but that she was called by the Gentiles Esther, after the “star-Venus” 
whereas according to Rabbi Jehoshua, her name was Esther, and she was subsequently characterized as Hadassah “Myrtle” because of the greenish colour of her face.
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References
page 174 note 1 That is Persian 
also 
, Greek αΣτρ; Targum Sheni to Esther 2, 7, says expressly that the star-Venus (
) was meant, so also Yalqūt Shim'ōnī.
page 174 note 2 This conforms perfectly with the Persian conception of the highest degree of grace and beauty; it is a feature which I have observed on many Persian and Parsi ladies. I may add also that in the miniatures of the best Persian and Mogul periods, a soft olive-green colouring in the faces of ladies with almond-shaped eyes can be noticed. The interpretation given in Levy's Neuhebraeisches Woerterbuch 
is a makeshift due to lack of knowledge of the real meaning attached to the “greenish colour”.
page 174 note 3 WZKM., vol. vi, 70, and 209 ff.; ZA., vol. 10, 330, where he discussed the meaning Esther and Hadassah.
page 175 note 1 Leo Oppenheim (of Dropsie College, Philadelphia) tells me that ḫadašatu is nowhere attested in the meaning of “myrtle”, and that it has no connection whatsoever with 
. He also drew my attention to Theo. Bauer, , Das Inschriftenwerk Assurbaṇipals, ii, p. 31Google Scholar, note 3, where ḫadašātu “bride” is connected with ḫašdu “to make love” (epēš ra'me).
page 175 note 2 So also were Babylonian names added to the Hebrew names of Daniel and his three friends, Daniel i, 7.
page 175 note 3 The word for “Myrtle” in Pehlevi (Middle-Persian) murt, N.-Pers. 
is of course from Greek µρτοσ.
page 175 note 4 See Lisān al-Arab, vii, p. 316. 
“Ibn Duraid says: 'ās is the well-known plant, and I think it is an introduced word”, this in spite of its being attested in early Arab poetry of the Hudeilīs. Some details about 'ās are given in Ibn Baitar's Al-Jāmi' al-Kabīr s.v. (German translation by Joseph von Sontheimer, vol. 1, p. 38). About Aramaic 'āsā, which is also current in the Babylonian Talmud, cf. A. Kohut, Aruch Completum s.v. and Geiger, B., Additamenta to the Aruch, p. 40Google Scholar, and more especially Im. Loew's, classical work Die Flora der Juden, ii, pp. 256ffGoogle Scholar. It is notable that whereas 
is generally the word for “myrtle” in all parts of Arab countries, it is unknown in Yemen where the word 
= 
is used. This can only be explained by presuming that the Jews were the first to introduce the myrtle into Yemen, because they needed it for ceremonial purposes during the tabernacle festivals. See Lev. xxiii, 40, where 
is interpreted as myrtle. See also Neh. viii, 15. As is well known, the Jews were settled in that part of South Arabia long before the Muhammedan era.
page 176 note 1 On another occasion I shall discuss the question whether Akkadian asu is identical with Aramaic 'āsâ and Arabic 'ās.
page 176 note 2 It must be stressed that the pronunciation 
(with a long ā) as it appears in literary Arabic, is by no means general. Thus, for instance, in Syria and Egypt it is pronounced 'ass; cf. Ducrois, M. A. H., Essai sur le Droguier populaire Arabe, Inst. d'Egypte, xv, p. 3Google Scholar.
page 176 note 3 Sanskr. putrá; Old-Persian pus(s)a; Middle-Persian (Pehlevi) pus, pusar. Both forms occur in Krdausi's Shāhnama; cf. Wolff, Fritz, Glossar zu Firdausi's Shahnama, pp. 199b, 200a, 205bGoogle Scholar.
page 176 note 4 Avest. uštra; Sanskr. uṣtra; Pehl. uštar; New-Persian šutur. New-Persian šutwr-bār “camel-load” is the same as Old-Persian uša-bari “camel-rider”, as bār is used for “load” and “riding”.
page 176 note 5 Avest. sāstar “ruler, or chieftain”; Sanskr. śastar, Pehl. sāstār.
page 177 note 1 The change of the pre-Iranian sound tr, Medic thr into hr. Old-Persian ρr into s, as for instance puthra > puhr, puθra > into PUS are regular (cf. Benveniste, E., Grammaire du Vieux-Perse, Paris, 1931, sect. 105 ff.)Google Scholar. In the case of uša “camel”, sās “ruler”, and āŝ “broth”, the suffix has fallen out through progressive assimilation, as also in the case of ās “myrtle” from *astra.
page 177 note 2 As Herzfeld wrote to me at that time (1936), he was led to his new interpretation of Sās, pi. Sāsān, by my suggestion about Esther. His emendation of Kitāb Al-Saksarān, the title of a Persian book, mentioned by Al-Mas'udi, , MurūǦ Al- Dahab, vol. ii, p. 118Google Scholar, into al-saslarān, “the book of the rulers,” is very ingenious, as it is synonymous with xvatāynāmak, the title of the Sassanide Shāhnama, “the book of the kings.” See also Herzfeld's, Altpersische Inschriften, Erster Ergaenzungsband Zu den Archaeologischen Mitteilugen aus Iran, Berlin, 1938, pp. 302 fGoogle Scholar.
page 178 note 1 I made a special study of the Jewish literature in different Arabic dialects from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Morocco, as well as of the Judeo-Persian literature, and found that the Jews have preserved ancient Arabic and Persian forms, which have disappeared from the spoken Arabic and Persian of to-day. The same is the case in the Judeo-Spanish literature, where old Spanish forms from Aragon, Catalonia, Asturias, and Old Castile have been preserved.