Esther

fem. proper name, Old Testament wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, from Greek Esther, from Hebrew Ester, from Persian sitareh "star," related to Avestan star- (from PIE root *ster- (2) "star"), or perhaps of Semitic origin.

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*ster- (2)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "star." Buck and others doubt the old suggestion that it is a borrowing from Akkadian istar "venus." The source of the common Balto-Slavic word for "star" (Lithuanian žvaigždė, Old Church Slavonic zvezda, Polish gwiazda, Russian zvezda) is not explained.

It forms all or part of: aster; asterisk; asterism; asteroid; astral; astro-; astrobiology; astrobleme; astrognosy; astroid; astrolabe; astrolatry; astrology; astromancy; astronaut; astronomy; AstroTurf; constellation; disaster; Estella; Esther; instellation; interstellar; lodestar; star; stardust; starfish; starlet; starlight; starry; stellar; stellate.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit star-; Hittite shittar, Greek aster "star," with derivative astron; Latin stella, Breton sterenn, Welsh seren "star."

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Definitions of Esther

Esther (n.)

(Old Testament) a beautiful Jewess chosen by the king of Persia to be his queen; she stopped a plot to massacre all the Jews in Persia (an event celebrated by Jews as the feast of Purim);

Esther (n.)

an Old Testament book telling of a beautiful Jewess who became queen of Persia and saved her people from massacre;

Synonyms: Book of Esther

From wordnet.princeton.edu

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