- published: 30 Dec 2012
- views: 944731
Isabel ( /ˈɪz.ə.bɛl/) is a Romance-language given name. It is related to Isabelle (French, Dutch, German, Catalan, Provençal), Isabella (Italian), and the English Elizabeth.
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. It is clear both etymologically and contextually (the use of Isabel as a translation of the name of the mother of John the Baptist) that these names are derived from the Latin and Greek renderings of the Hebrew name.
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 her name was first established sometime around 400 B.C. Some Romance languages now have both forms of the name concurrently. For example, Isabella and Elisabetta exist in Italian; Isabelle and Élisabeth exist in French.