Genesis 11:29

Sarai Abram's wife was, according to Genesis 20:12, his half-sister, i.e. a daughter of Terah by another wife. Milcah, Nahor's wife, is Nahor's niece. Whether in these marriages we have to deal with the actual details of relationship permitted in nomadic life, or whether we have presented to us, under the imagery of matrimony, the fusion of families or tribes in the main community, is a question which we are not able through lack of evidence to answer. The blending of personal and tribal history produces a result, in which it is impossible to be sure of disentangling the separate elements.

"Sarai" is believed to be an archaic form of "Sarah" = "princess": cf. Genesis 17:15.

The fact that Sarratu("princess") was a title of the moon-goddess, consort of Sin, and Malkatu("queen"), a title of Istar, among the deities worshipped in Harran, raises questions with regard to the origin of the Hebrew proper names, Sarah and Milcah.

For Milcah cf. Genesis 22:20; Genesis 22:23; Genesis 24:15; Genesis 24:24; Genesis 24:47. "Iscah," otherwise unknown: by some identified with Sarai; by others as Lot's wife.