1

I want to name my new born baby girl as Nessa which means miracle but want to know Which verse in the Hebrew bible mentions the word Nessa

3
  • FWIW, "Nissa" (if pronounced as "nee sah") would mean "test". If the pronunciation or writing of your proposed name is close to nissa, IMO, you might not want to choose that name.
    – DanF
    Oct 11, 2015 at 21:03
  • @user11228, Welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thank you very much for the interesting question.
    – Mike
    Oct 12, 2015 at 1:49
  • my sister's name is Nessa. It is Yiddish, but I don't know what it means
    – Menachem
    Oct 12, 2015 at 3:33

2 Answers 2

4

Nessa is certainly listed as a Jewish name here.

But I cannot find it used in the Bible neither in my concordance (Even Shoshan) nor in an online concordance.

Nes is a more masculine form and does exist in the Bible – Numbers 26 (10) and Isaiah 11 (10).

My concordance lists its meaning as a “sign” (with miraculous associations) – see the translations.

2

As Avrohom Yitzchok's answer notes, It is usually a masculine noun in the Bible: "nays", meaning banner or sign. Ernest Klein's Etymologial Dictionary gives both meanings:

  1. נֵס[nays] standard, ensign, flag, signal, sign
  2. נֵס[nays] miracle, providential event, wonder (prob. sense enlargement of נֵס‏ 1)

Your feminine form for miracle נֵסָח"nay-sa" (rhymes with "day spa") is a different word from נִסָה"nee-sa" (rhymes with "we saw"). Klein lists "nee-sa" as meaning 1. "he tested or tried", 2. "he attempted, essayed", 3. "he proved, tempted". The form נֻסָה (noo-sa) means "was tested, was tried". This is a case where the vowel does affect meaning significantly.

An adjectival form of your word נִסִי "nee-see" is listed by Klein as meaning "miraculous, marvelous".

A famous non-bibical biblical quote that uses this word (of course in the masculine again) is "נס גדול היה שם" (Nes Gadol Hayah Sham – "a great miracle happened there"), referring to the miracle of Hanukkah. The acronym of this phrase is printed on many dreidels.

The masculine plural נִסִים "nissim", meaning "miracles, wonders" is found in the Passover haggadah and in Pirkei Avot ("Ten miracles were performed ...")

The variations of the masculine form "nays" are found twice in the morning and evening services, once meaning miracles ("Who wrought miracles for us") and once meaning banner ("raise a banner to gather our exiles").

Unfortunately for your specific question, this word is almost never feminine, except in your case of re-forming it into a proper name. That usage may not be found in biblical or rabbinic texts, but given the right pronunciation, makes sense as a derived feminine name (like Danielle from Daniel or Davita from David).

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .