The Etymology of Eve - Part I

Awhile back, upon my first reading of the Bible for class, I found it odd that Eve was not named until Genesis 3:20, after being expelled from Eden. Better yet, Adam remains unnamed (i.e. "the man") until the Priestly writer reemerges at Genesis 4:25, at least in the Harper Collins Study Bible/New Revised Standard Version. Of course, one could argue that the generic "man" is simply a translation of 'adam in Hebrew. But why does Adam become a proper noun all of the sudden?

Unfortunately, the Harper-Collins Bible's footnotes offer little respite for my curiosity about Adam's name, besides commentary on the Hebrew wordplay between 'adam and the ground, 'adamah. Instead, those same footnotes give an intriguing bit of information about Eve's name, raising even more questions.

The passage to the harsh life of human culture is somewhat relieved by the naming of Eve (lit."life") ... The name of Eve and her description as the mother of all living may be related to similar names and epithets of older Near Eastern goddesses. (footnotes 3.20-21, p. 10)

Etymologically, Eve is derived from the Late Latin Ēva or Hēva, originating from the Hebrew word Chavvah (also rendered as Hawwah) from Hebrew ḥawwâ, meaning "life" or "living," which in turn comes from ḥāyâ, "to live," stretching back to the Semitic root of ḥyw. A close derivation of Eve's name is also used in the Qur'an, as Hawwāʾ.

The name Chavvah may further derive from Kheba, a Hurrian goddess ("the mother of all living") worshipped in Late Bronze Age Jerusalem. In turn, the name Kheba may come from the woman Kubaba or Kug-Bau, the first ruler of the Third Dynasty of Kish and only female on the Sumerian king list.

Even as far as India, both etymological and mythological similarities emerge in the Hindu story of Havyavati, consort of Adhama and child of Vishnu-Kardama, said to multiply the generations of mlecchas or non-Vedics (i.e. barbarians/outsiders) in a city next to a "God-given Forest" complete with the goddess Kali in the form of a persuasive serpent.

In my next post, I'll elaborate further and fully cite the claims made above.