Maryam or Mariam is the
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
form of the biblical name
Miriam
Miriam (, lit. ‘rebellion’) is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The Torah refers to her as "Miria ...
(the name of the prophetess
Miriam
Miriam (, lit. ‘rebellion’) is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The Torah refers to her as "Miria ...
, the sister of
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
). It is notably the name of
Mary the mother of
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
.
The spelling in the
Semitic abjads is ''mrym'' (, , ), which may be vowelized in a number of ways (''Meriem'', ''Miryam'', ''Miriyam'', ''Mirijam'', ''Marium'', ''Maryam'', ''Mariyam'', ''Marijam'', ''Meryem'', ''Merjeme'', ''Myriem'', etc.)
Via its use in the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
the name has been adopted worldwide, especially in
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, but also in
Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...
, in
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
, and
in Islam.
In
Latin Christianity, the Greek form was adopted as latinate (whence French and English
Mary).
Forms retaining the final -''m'' are found throughout the Middle East, in
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
,
Georgian,
Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
, and
Persian, as well as the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
, including
Amharic
Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...
,
Tigrinya, and
Somali,
Turkish and in
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
as in south
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Etymology
The name may have originated from the
Egyptian language
The Egyptian language, or Ancient Egyptian (; ), is an extinct branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts, which were made accessible to the modern world ...
; in a suggestion going back to 1897,
it is possibly derivative of the root ''mr'' "love; beloved"
[A. Maas]
"The Name of Mary"
''The Catholic Encyclopedia
''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
'' (1912), citing Franz von Hummelauer (''in Exod. et Levit.'', Paris, 1897, p. 161) (compare ''
mry.t-ymn'' "Merit-Amun", i.e. "beloved of
Amun
Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...
").
Maas (1912) references (but rejects) a 1906 suggestion interpreting the name as "beloved of
Yahweh
Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...
".
Maas (1912) further proposes possible derivation from Hebrew, either from ''marah'' "to be rebellious", or (more likely) from ''mara'' "well nourished".
The name has a long tradition of scholarly etymologisation; some seventy suggestions are treated by
Otto Bardenhewer in monographic form in his ''Der Name Maria'' (1895).
It was early etymologized as containing the Hebrew root ''mr'' "bitter" (cf.
myrrh
Myrrh (; from an unidentified ancient Semitic language, see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a few small, thorny tree species of the '' Commiphora'' genus, belonging to the Burseraceae family. Myrrh resin has been used ...
), or ''mry'' "rebellious".
St. Jerome (writing c. 390), following
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...
, translates the name as "drop of the sea" (''stilla maris'' in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
), from Hebrew מר ''mar'' "drop" (cf. Isaiah 40:15) and
ים ''yam'' "sea".
This translation was subsequently rendered ''stella maris'' ("star of the sea") due to
scribal error
A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling or transposition error) made in the typing of printed or electronic material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual typesetting ...
, whence the Virgin Mary's title
Star of the Sea.
[
]Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi ().
Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...
, an 11th-century Jewish commentator on the Bible, wrote that the name was given to the sister of Moses because of the Egyptians' harsh treatment of Jews in Egypt. Rashi wrote that the Israelites lived in Egypt for two hundred ten years, including eighty-six years of cruel enslavement that began at the time Moses' elder sister was born. Therefore, the girl was called Miriam, because the Egyptians made life bitter (מַר, ''mar'') for her people.[ "From the time that Miriam was born, the Egyptians intensified the bondage upon Israel; therefore, she was called Miriam, because they made it bitter (מַר) for them."]
Modern given name
Modern given names derived from Aramaic ''Maryam'' are frequent in Christian culture, as well as, due to the Quranic tradition of Mary, extremely frequently given in Islamic cultures. There are a large number of variants and derivations.
The New Testament gives the name as both ''Mariam'' (Μαριάμ) and ''Maria'' (Μαρία).
The Latin Vulgate
The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initia ...
uses the first declension, ''Maria''.
''Maryam'' is the now-usual English-language rendition of the Arabic name.
The spelling ''Mariyam'' (in German-language contexts also ''Marijam'') is sometimes used as a close transcription from Hebrew, Aramaic or Arabic.
The spelling ''Mariam'' is current in transliteration from Georgian and Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
, and in German-language transliteration from Aramaic or Arabic.
''Mariam'' was also a current spelling in early modern English, as in the Jacobean era play '' The Tragedy of Mariam''.
Derived names
''Maryam'' as the name of Mary mother of Jesus is also part of given names consisting of genitive constructions ('' idafa'') in Ethiopian tradition, such as '' Haile Mariam'' "power of Mary",
'' Baeda Maryam'' "Hand of Mary", several people
'' Newaya Maryam'' "Property of Mary" or '' Takla Maryam'' "Plant of Mary", used as masculine given names. In Arabic, Marwan, meaning "one who is fragrant like myrrh", could be the masculine form of Maryam.
Ustad Ali Maryam, architect in 19th century Persia, added ''Maryam'' to his name after building a house for an important woman with that name.
People named Maryam
Notable people with the name Maryam
* Maryam Abacha (born 1945), widow of Sani Abacha, ''de facto'' President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998
* Maryam Tanveer Ali, popularly known as Maya Ali, Pakistani television actress
* Maryam Babangida (1948–2009), wife of Nigeria's head of state from 1985 to 1993
* Maryam d'Abo (born 1960), English film and television actress
* Maryam Fatima, Pakistani actress
* Maryam Goumbassian (1831–1909), an Ottoman Armenian actress
* Maryam Khan (born 1989), American politician
* Maryam Matar (born 1975), Emirati geneticist and medical researcher
* Maryam Mirzakhani
Maryam Mirzakhani (, ; 12 May 1977 – 14 July 2017) was an Iranian mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University. Her research topics included Teichmüller space, Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic the ...
(1977–2017), Iranian mathematician
* Maryam Moghaddam (born c.1970), Iranian actress and filmmaker
* Maryam Monsef (born 1984), Afghan Canadian politician
* Maryam Nemazee, Iranian British broadcast journalist
* Maryam Nawaz Sharif (born 1973), Pakistani politician
* Maryam Omar (born 1993), Kuwaiti-born Palestinian cricketer
* Maryam Rajavi
Maryam Rajavi (, , ; born 4 December 1953) is an Iranian dissident politician and the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), an organization advocating the overthrow of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian government ...
(born 1953), leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran
* Maryam Salour (born 1954), Iranian visual artist
* Maryam Shanechi, Iranian-American neuro engineers
* Maryam Yakubova (1931–2018), Uzbek educator
* Maryam Zakaria, Swedish-Iranian actress
Notable people with spelling variations of the name Maryam
* Myriem Akheddiou (born 1978), Belgian Moroccan actress
* Mariam al-Asturlabi (), astrolabist in Aleppo during the Islamic Golden Age
* Mariam A. Aleem (1930–2010), Egyptian artist and academic
* Mariam Ansari, 21st century Pakistani film actress
* Marriyum Aurangzeb (born 1980), Pakistani politician
* Meriem Belmihoub (1935–2021), Algerian freedom fighter
* Mariem Ben Chaabane (born 1983), Tunisian actress
* Meriam Ben Hussein, 21st century Tunisian actress
* Meriem Ben Mami (born 1980), Tunisian actress
* Meriem Bennani (born 1988), Moroccan animator
* Mariam Bolkvadze (born 1998), Georgian tennis player
* Mériem Bouatoura (1938–1960), Algerian militant during the war of independence
* Mariam Brahim, (born 1956), Chadian physician
* Mariam Sy Diawara, 21st century Ivorian and Canadian businesswoman
* Mariam Mamadashvili (born 2005), Georgian singer
* Myriam Mizouni (born 1958), Tunisian swimmer
* Mariam Mirza (born 1975), Pakistani television actress and beautician
* Meriem Moussa (born 1988), Algerian judoka
* Marium Mukhtiar (1992–2015), Pakistan Air Force pilot
* Myriem Nacer (born 2002), Algerian footballer
* Mariyam Nafees (born 1994), Pakistani television actress
* Mariam Shengelia (born 2002), Georgian singer
See also
* Maryam (disambiguation)
* Miriam (given name)
* Maria (given name)
Maria is a feminine given name. It is given in many languages influenced by Christianity.
It was used as the feminine form of the unrelated Roman name ''Marius (name), Marius'' (see Maria gens), and, after Christianity had spread across the Roma ...
* Mary in Islam
Maryam bint Imran () holds a singularly exalted place in Islam. The Qur'an refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest woman to have ever lived. Moreover, she is the only woman named in the Quran.J.D. McAuliffe, ''C ...
*
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maryam (Name)
Arabic-language feminine given names
Feminine given names
Bosnian feminine given names
Lebanese feminine given names
Pakistani feminine given names
Aramaic-language names
Coptic given names