Bathsheba

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A woman in the Hebrew Bible who was first married to Uriah and later became the wife of King David and mother of Solomon
2. The biblical figure famed for her marriage to King David after the death of her first husband, Uriah the Hittite
3. In the Old Testament, a woman whose affair with King David led to her becoming his wife and the mother of Solomon

Etymology: Bathsheba is a Hebrew name, and the word is a proper noun rather than a common term, so its history is the history of a biblical figure. In Hebrew, it is written בַּת שֶׁבַע and combines "bat," meaning "daughter," with "sheva," meaning "oath," so the name translates as "daughter of an oath." The second element is closely tied to the Hebrew word for seven, since swearing an oath was traditionally a sealed or solemn act, and the name has often been read in that light. In English usage, the name is known chiefly from the Hebrew Bible, where Bathsheba is the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later the mother of Solomon, with King David at the center of her story. Because the name is used for people rather than things, it has no everyday English sense of its own. It has been given to women in English-speaking countries as a personal name, often in older or biblical-style forms.