Isabel

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For other uses, see Isabel (disambiguation).

Isabel
Given Name


Isabella the Catholic (1451–1504) the first Spanish female monarch and a key character in the discovering of America
Gender Female
Meaning "My God is my satifaction"
Origin Hebrew via Greek and Latin.
Related names Isabella, Isabelle, Izabela, Isobel,Ysabeau
Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with Isabel
Look up Isabel in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The Romance-language given names Isabel (Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Provençal), Isabella (Italian), Isabelle (French) are etymologically related to the English Elizabeth, but are rarely translated as such. In English translations, they are instead substituted one for the other, seemingly arbitrarily. Isabella I of Castile, for example, is often rendered into English as Italian Isabella, rarely as French Isabelle, but (nowadays) never as Elizabeth.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

This set of names is a southwestern European variant of the Hebrew name Elisheva. It first appeared in medieval Provençal as Isabel. It is clear both etymologically and contextually (the use of Isabel as a translation of the name of the mother of John the Baptist) that these names are derived from the Latin and Greek renderings of the Hebrew name.[1]

According to Hanks/Hodges (166), the name is simply the Spanish form of Elizabeth, with loss of the first syllable and /l/ instead of /t/ (the latter sound does not appear word-finally in Spanish). Some Romance languages now have both forms of the name concurrently. For example, Isabella and Elisabetta exist in Italian; Isabelle and Élisabeth exist in French. For instance, in French Canada, Queen Elizabeth II is officially called Élisabeth II.

An alternative etymology would suggest the ending -bel(la) comes from the Latin word bella "beautiful" (though it may be noted that it may also be translated as "wars"), while the origin of Isa- is somewhat uncertain, it may derive from a name, such as Isis, or Ye(ho)shua (known as Isa in Islam).

Variants in other languages include the Scottish Isobel and the Polish Izabela.

[edit] Royalty

[edit] Queens

For queens named Isabel, Isabelle, or Isabella, see Queen Isabella (disambiguation).

[edit] Other royalty

[edit] Saints

[edit] Other famous people

[edit] Ships

  • Isabella, a ship sunk in the Falkland Islands in 1813.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Hanks, Patrick und Flavia Hodges. 1996. Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Guido Gómez de Silva, Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1985.
WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the given name Isabel. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the surname to that link.