Are the Hebrew words for ‘woman’ and ‘make’ related?

Question

In Genesis 2, God says:

“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make [עָשָׂה ; strongs H6213: to fashion, bring forth, make or do] him a helper fit for him.”” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

He then ‘builds’ Eve from Adam’s rib. In other words, God brings her forth from Adam. And when He presents her to Adam, Adam says:

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman [אִשָּׁה ; Strongs H802] because she was taken out of Man.”” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Now, Strongs shows no direct correlation between “aw-saw‘“ (H6213 to make, bring forth, fashion) and “ish-shaw'” (H802 woman, as the opposite of man), relating it instead to the Hebrew root for ‘a man’ or ‘husband’, which is “eesh” [אִישׁ Strongs H376].

But, as a layman, and not a biblical scholar, when I look at “ish-shaw” (woman), it seems to me like a conjunction of “eesh” (man) and “aw-saw” (made).

To me this would also make sense of what Adam says here “she was taken out of man”

Can anyone shed any light?

Answer 1

The beginning letters of אשה and עשה, the א and ע, are rarely interchangeable. So linguistically there is a very weak connection there.

In any case, the verse you bring as evidence does not even use the verb עשה but לקח

וַיֹּאמֶר, הָאָדָם, זֹאת הַפַּעַם עֶצֶם מֵעֲצָמַי, וּבָשָׂר מִבְּשָׂרִי; לְזֹאת יִקָּרֵא אִשָּׁה, כִּי מֵאִישׁ לֻקְחָה-זֹּאת.

So the biblical author clearly does not have this connection in mind when he writes that she was taken from a man. The more obvious connection is between איש and אשה, which is extremely similar, אשה is really the feminine version of איש, thus the Bible is telling us that she is called Isha because she was taken from an Ish, the female is just an extension, or the feminine version of the man. Simple.