\ifdefiningfootnotes \DeclareFixedFootnote{\fnMariam}{MARIAM: This is the name for the mother of Iesous used in Luke's gospel. Luke consistently gives the mother of IESOUS as MARIAM throughout the infancy narrative — the angel addresses her by this name (1:30), and she speaks of herself by it (1:34, 1:38) — the same form the Septuagint uses for Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, prophetess and singer of Israel's victory song at the Sea (Exodus 15:20-21). Some scholars argue that song, though attributed to Moses in the text's final form, was originally hers. A Greek-literate Jewish reader hearing MARIAM in Luke's narrative would have this figure in view: deliverer's sister, prophetess, singer of deliverance. The Magnificat (1:46-55) reads as her direct heir — a new MARIAM singing a new song at a new deliverance. \fnPar{} The name's own meaning is disputed even in antiquity: most often derived from a Hebrew root associated with bitterness or rebellion, reflecting the bitterness of the Egyptian bondage, though some ancient sources proposed an alternate root meaning "beautiful." \fnPar{} See `MARIA. } \fi