Noah's wife explained

Noah's wife is one of the four wives aboard Noah's Ark. While nameless in the Bible (Genesis 4:22; Gen. 7:7), apocryphal literature lists 103 variations of her name and personality.^[1]

Some apocryphal literature identified her with Naamah, the daughter of Lamech, and thus a descendant of Cain, but the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit states that Noah's wife was one of his "own kindred" (Tobit 4:12). In the Dead Sea Scrolls, she is named Emzara.^[2]

In Mandaeism

The Book of Kings, the final book of the Mandaean Right Ginza,^[3] refers to Noah's (or Shem's)^[4] wife by the name Nuraita (or Nhuraitha, Anhuraita, among various other spellings).^[5] There is some contradiction between texts, and some textual ambiguity, regarding which patriarch is married to Nuraita; additionally, Anhuraita appears to be a portmanteau of Nuraita and Anhar, the wives of Noah and Shem.^[6]

Bibliography

• Utley . Francis Lee . The One Hundred and Three Names of Noah's Wife . Speculum . 1941 . 16 . 4 . 426–452 . 10.2307/2852842 . 2852842 . 163797953 .
• Tolmie . Jane . Mrs Noah and didactic abuses . Early Theatre . 1 January 2002 . 5 . 1 . 11–36 . 10.12745/et.5.1.623 . . 43499152 . free .
• Young . Wilfred . Noah and His Wife: A Note on Three English Miracle Plays . Hermathena . 1957 . 90 . 17–32 . 23039504 .
• Mill . Anna Jean . Noah's Wife Again . PMLA . 1941 . 56 . 3 . 613–626 . 10.2307/458985 . 458985 . 163574912 .

Notes and References

1. Utley . Francis Lee . The One Hundred and Three Names of Noah's Wife . Speculum . 1941 . 16 . 4 . 426–452 . 10.2307/2852842 . 2852842 . 163797953 .
2. Schuller . Eileen . Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Some Observations from a Dictionary . Revue de Qumrân . 2009 . 24 . 93 . 49–59 . 24663086 .
3. Book: Häberl, Charles . The Book of Kings and the Explanations of This World: A Universal History from the Late Sasanian Empire . Liverpool . Liverpool University Press . 2022 . 978-1-80085-627-1 . 10.3828/9781800856271 . 31 January 2024 .
4. Book: Book Nineteen: The Deluge . 203–204 . . Right Volume . Al-Saadi . Qais . Al-Saadi . Hamed . 2nd . Germany . 2019 . Drabsha. [Note: this book, or a larger text containing it, is numbered book 18 in some other editions.]
5. Book: Ginza Rba . Gelbert . Carlos . 2011 . Living Water Books . Sydney . 9780958034630.
6. Book: Lupieri . Edmondo . The Mandaeans and the Myth of Their Origins . 127–144 . https://books.google.com/books?id=_u2nU2RBm10C&pg=PA127 . Macuch . Rudolf . Und das Leben ist siegreich! / And Life is Victorious . 2008 . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag . 978-3-447-05178-1 .