Miriam (מִרְיָם) is the original Hebrew form of Mary — uncertain etymology, possibly "beloved" or "bitter sea" or from the Egyptian *mr* ("love"). **The biblical Miriam — older sister of Moses and Aaron and the first woman explicitly called a prophet (*nəvi'ah*) in the Hebrew Bible** (Exodus 15:20). **Watched over the infant Moses in the bulrushes; led the women of Israel in the *Song of the Sea* after crossing the Red Sea — among the oldest passages in the Hebrew Bible**. **Punished with leprosy for criticizing Moses (Numbers 12); died at Kadesh**. **Miriam Makeba (1932-2008)** — South African singer; **"Mama Africa"** — first Black African woman to win a Grammy (1966); UN delegate; exiled from apartheid South Africa for 31 years. **Miriam Yeung, Miriam Margolyes** — among modern Miriams.
Subject of countless rabbinic commentaries and Marina Goldovskaya's documentary *Mama Africa* (2011).
Miriam reduces to seven — the number of Moses's sister.