>>>>>In Genesis 5:2 for instance it says "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
>>>>
>>>>Two questions. First, was Eve's name Adam, too? Second, what does it mean "call a name something" - a name has a name? Which brings the subquestion: what were their names' names before that?
>>>
>>>FWIW, "adam" is the Hebrew word for "man." So I read that passage as "and called them 'man'"
>>
>>That's not my question. That's how he was called. What was his name called?
>
>Right. It is a weird construction. I just looked at the Hebrew and it really is written that way. In transliteration, "Va-yikra et sh'mam a-dam."
>
>And in the next verse, we have "And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth. "
>
>However, I note that the site I'm using says it's based on the 1917 JPS (Jewish Publication Society) translation. There is a newer one, but it doesn't seem to be online. If I remember, I'll grab a copy from my shelf and see how this is translated. I know that in the new version, for example, it doesn't say "In the beginning, God created," but "When God began to create."
>
>Tamar

Actually what we must conclude is that the word Adam, which is translated into the English word "Man" was gender neutral at first. So the original meaning of that word was more in the sense of "Mankind" or "Humankind". Funny also in German "Die Menschheit" is a Feminine word (same in Spanish). So much for the whole fuss about gender neutral language, I think this is a problem that used to be no problem at all, until people made a problem out of it.