Etymology

Jessica

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Today it means: A female given name from Hebrew. Full definition →

Hebrew יִסְכָּה
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The story

  1. Hebrew · derived fromיִסְכָּה“Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe version”
  2. English todayJessica

First used by William Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice in the early 17th century, probably from Hebrew יִסְכָּה (yiská, “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe version”), a proper name meaning "he will see/behold/look for", the 3ms imperfect form of a verb ultimately from the root ס־כ־ה (s-k-h), itself an alternative form of the root שׂ־כ־ה (ś-k-h), both of which mean "to see, behold, look for". * By folk etymology seen as an elaborate form of Jessie, from Jane.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.