# נעמי



## seitt

Greetings


Re the name נָעֳמִי, seen notably in the name of the songwriter נעמי שמר, I had always thought it was pronounced “No’omi” in Modern Hebrew, but according to this site it is pronounced “Na’omi”

http://www.behindthename.com/name/na02omi


Please could you clarify this?


Best wishes, and many thanks,


Simon


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## Drink

Yes, in Hebrew it is pronounced "no`omi", but the English equivalent of the name (as in many other languages) is "Naomi", based on an old misinterpretation of the vowel (probably from the King James Bible or something like that). The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation from 3rd century BCE, renders the name as ΝΩΕΜΙΝ (NŌEMIN), so it's pretty clear that "o" was the original vowel and "a" is the mistake and not the other way around.


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## origumi

On the technical level: there's a hataf qamatz qatan under the letter Ayin (the second letter), therefore the qamatz under the Nun (the first letter) is also qatan thus pronounced as (short) "o" according to the tradition (and not as long "a" like qamatz not qatan) and, as Drink demonstrated, at least since the 2rd-1st centuries BC.

I wonder why it's a long "o" in Νωεμιν.


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## Drink

origumi said:


> I wonder why it's a long "o" in Νωεμιν.



The history of the vowels in both Greek and Hebrew is very complicated, but perhaps it is because it is in an open syllable.


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## seitt

Many thanks, super!

What meaning would you assign to the name נָעֳמִי? Is there a connection with the name Noam, as in Noam Chomsky?


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## origumi

seitt said:


> Is there a connection with the name Noam, as in Noam Chomsky?


Probably yes. Root נ-ע-מ means to please, to be pleasant, to cause pleasure.
Many names in the book of Ruth carry apparent meaning.


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## Drink

no`am = "pleasantness"
no`om*i* = "*my* pleasantness"


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## seitt

Many thanks, excellent!


Re "my pleasantness", can we interpret it as “my source of pleasure”? This would be a very understandable name for a parent to give a beloved child.


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## Drink

seitt said:


> Many thanks, excellent!
> 
> 
> Re "my pleasantness", can we interpret it as “my source of pleasure”? This would be a very understandable name for a parent to give a beloved child.



Yes, exactly. I just meant to show the relationship between the names.


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## ranpinch

On street you would probably hear people say just "nomi" but on official situation you would hear "no'omi".


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