Eve

About

Eve is a figure from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. According to the origin story of the Abrahamic religions, she was the first woman to be created by God. Eve is known also as Adam’s wife.
Her name means “living one” or “source of life”. The name has been compared to that of the Hurrian goddess Ḫepat, who was worshipped in Jerusalem during the Late Bronze Age. It has been suggested that the Hebrew name Eve (חַוָּה) bears resemblance to an Aramaic word for “snake” (Old Aramaic language חוה; Aramaic חִוְיָא). The origin for this etymological hypothesis is the rabbinic pun present in Genesis Rabbah 20:11 (c. 300-500 CE), utilizing the similarity between Heb. Ḥawwāh and Aram. ḥiwyāʾ. Notwithstanding its rabbinic ideological usage, scholars like Julius Wellhausen and Theodor Nöldeke argued for its etymological relevance.

“Eve” in Hebrew is “Ḥawwāh” (חווה) and is most commonly believed to mean “living one” or “source of life” from the root “ḥāyâ” (חיה), “to live”, from the Semitic root ḥyw.
Hawwāh has been compared to the Hurrian goddess Ḫepat, who was shown in the Amarna letters to be worshipped in Jerusalem during the Late Bronze Age. It has been suggested that…