Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, &c.— Adam here begins to be used as a proper name; not as the general name of man. The several genera of beasts and birds had already passed before Adam, to which he gave names expressive of their respective natures and properties: but among all these, there was not כנגדו (kenegdo) his counter-part found: but when the woman was brought in her turn to pass in review, he said הפעם זאת (zoth hapaam) this turn, this which passes now in review, is flesh of my flesh, &c.; which words may be either understood in a literal sense, referring to the manner of Eve's formation; or in a general sense, expressing only nearness of relation and proximity of blood: in which sense Laban says to Jacob) Surely thou art my bone and my flesh, my near relation.
She shall be called woman— i.e.. She shall partake of my name as she does of my nature; she shall be called אשׁה ishah, from אישׁ ish, man, from whom she is taken. I may again observe, that this agreement of the names of persons with the names of things from which they are derived, is one of the main arguments which are offered in proof of the Hebrew's being the original, or, at least, a dialect of the original language.