Rebekah

English

Etymology

From Hebrew רִבְקָה (Riḇqāh, “enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”).

Proper noun

Rebekah

2. (biblical) The sister of Laban; Isaac's wife; the mother of Jacob and Esau.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 25:20:

     And Isaac was fortie yeeres old when hee tooke Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the ſiſter to Laban the Syrian.

3. A female given name from Hebrew, a less-common variant of Rebecca.

Usage notes

The spelling Rebecca originates from the Latin Vulgate, which from the 4th century onward was the Bible that was used for centuries in Western Christianity. When the King James Version appeared in 1611, the spelling Rebekah was used in the Old Testament, but the spelling Rebecca was retained in the New Testament.

Translations

sister of Laban and wife to Isaac

• Amharic: ርብቃ (rəbḳa)
• Arabic: رِفْقَة f (rifqa)
• Armenian:

  Old Armenian: Ռեբեկա (Ṙebeka), Հռեբեկա (Hṙebeka)

• Danish: Rebecca
• Dutch: Rebekka
• Esperanto: Rebeka
• Estonian: Rebeka
• Finnish: Rebekka (fi)
• French: Rébecca (fr) f
• German: Rebekka (de) f
• Greek: Ρεβέκκα (el) f (Revékka)

  Ancient: Ῥεβέκκα f (Rhebékka)

• Hawaiian: Rebeka
• Hebrew: רִבְקָה (he) f (Riḇqāh)
• Latin: Rebecca f
• Norwegian: Rebekka (no)
• Polish: Rebeka (pl) f
• Portuguese: Rebeca (pt) f
• Russian: Реве́кка (ru) f (Revékka), Ребе́кка (ru) f (Rebɛ́kka)
• Scottish Gaelic: Rebecah f (Old Testament), Rebeca f (New Testament)
• Spanish: Rebeca (es) f
• Swedish: Rebecka (sv)

Further reading

• Rebecca on Wikipedia.Wikipedia