Etymology
This set of names is a southwestern European variant of the Hebrew name Elisheva. It also comes from the Latin "Helizabeth". It first appeared in medieval Provençal as Elisabel. Guido Gómez de Silva states that these names are derived from the Latin and Greek renderings of the Hebrew name based both etymological and contextual evidence (the use of Isabel as a translation of the name of the mother of John the Baptist).
According to Hanks/Hodges (166), the name is simply the Spanish and Portuguese form of Elizabeth, with loss of the first syllable and /l/ instead of /t/ (the latter sound does not appear word-finally in standard Spanish). Some people believed that this form of the name was first established sometime around 400 B.C. Both forms of the name concurrently in Italian (Isabella and Elisabetta) and French (Isabelle and Élisabeth).
An alternative etymology would suggest the ending -bel(la) comes from the Latin word bella "beautiful", while the origin of Isa- is somewhat uncertain, it may derive from a name, such as Isis.
Variants in other languages include the Scottish Isobel, the Scottish Gaelic Ishbel, the Danish Elsebeth and the Polish Izabela.
Read more about this topic: Isabel
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)