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Israel (name)

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Etymology

In Hebrew, the name Israel comes from sara (Hebrew: שָׂרָה, lit. 'to struggle [with]') and el (Hebrew: אֵל, lit. 'God'). After Jacob wrestles with the angel in the Book of Genesis, the Angel of the Lord tells him that his name is now Israel, because he has "struggled with God and man and prevailed" (Genesis 32:28, 35:10). The Hebrew verb sarita, used in the passage, has also been translated into English as "striven," "wrestled," and "contended."

The name is frequently seen as a reference to the Jewish people's ongoing struggle with God and the obligation they have to explore their faith. According to John Day, the name Israel probably means 'El will rule', which is an indication of the Canaanite deity's importance in pre-monarchic Israelite religion, an etymology considered inline with evidence from Ugaritic texts. Mark S. Smith similarly notes that the name is not Yahwistic, but El theophoric, arguing these preserved names and ancient epithets point to El's original prominence.

The word "wrestlers" in Ancient Greek is "palaestis," which may be related to "Palaistinê" used by Herodotus. Palaistinê would then mean "Land of the wrestlers" or "Land of Israel."

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