In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, Gebirah (; he, , ''gəḇīrā''; feminine of , ''gəḇīr'', meaning 'lord') is a title ascribed to several

queen mothers A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

of Israel and Judah.

Description

Literally translated, the title means 'Great Lady' ("Lady" being the feminine counterpart etymologically to the male honorific "Lord"). However, given that this title is most often attributed to a queen mother, the two have become synonymous, and therefore ''gəḇīrā'' is most often translated as 'Queen Mother'. When

romanised Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

, ''gəḇīrā'' can be used as both a common noun ("a gebirah", "the gebirah") or a proper noun ("the Gebirah"), as with most

royal titles Traditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and among geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to another's grand duke) ...

. Although not present in the

Masoretic Texts The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

, the plural form ''gəḇīrōṯ'' is commonly used by academics to avoid the intra-word switching of ''gebirahs''. The ''gebirah'' is believed by some scholars to have held great power as counsel of the king. In 1 Kings 2:20,

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

said to his Mother

Bathsheba Bathsheba ( or ; he, בַּת־שֶׁבַע, ''Baṯ-šeḇaʿ'', Bat-Sheva or Batsheva, "daughter of Sheba" or "daughter of the oath") was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, according to the Hebrew Bible. She was the mother of ...

, seated on a throne at his right, "Make your request, Mother, for I will not refuse you". The position of the queen mother ''(gəḇīrā)'' was a privilege of the highest honour, and was the highest authority for a woman in Israel or Judah. In fact, the only time a woman held higher office was in the case of

Athaliah Athaliah ( el, Γοθολία ''Gotholía''; la, Athalia) was the daughter of either king Omri, or of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later quee ...

, who held the throne of Judah as queen in her own right, despite being illegitimate in the eyes of the scripture. To further complicate matters, the word ''gəḇereṯ'' (; he, , also , ''gəḇīrət'', and , ''gəḇāreṯ'', meaning 'lady', 'mistress', or 'queen') occurs 9 times in the Masoretic Text. In comparison, ''gəḇīrā'' occurs only 6 times. Scholars generally take one of two stances with ''gəḇereṯ'': either classing it as an acceptable variation of the word ''gəḇīrā'' within the

ketiv Qere and Ketiv, from the Aramaic ''qere'' or ''q're'', (" hat isread") and ''ketiv'', or ''ketib'', ''kethib'', ''kethibh'', ''kethiv'', (" hat iswritten"), also known as "q're uchsiv" or "q're uchtiv," refers to a system for marking differences ...

(featuring a common

qere Qere and Ketiv, from the Aramaic ''qere'' or ''q're'', ("hat isread") and ''ketiv'', or ''ketib'', ''kethib'', ''kethibh'', ''kethiv'', ("hat iswritten"), also known as "q're uchsiv" or "q're uchtiv," refers to a system for marking differences b ...

), or opting for a distinct separation of the two words, despite their converged meanings.

In Christianity

William G. Most, a Catholic author, sees in the ''gebirah'' a type of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

.Most, William G. "Mary's Queenship", Our Lady in Doctrine and Devotion, 1994.

Description

In Christianity

References

Further reading

See also