And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn,.... Chose one for him, and presented her to him for his liking, whom he approving of married:
whose name [was] Tamar; which signifies a "palm tree": the Targum of Jonathan says, she was the daughter of Shem; but it is altogether improbable that a daughter of his should be living at this time, and young enough to bear children: it is much more probable that she was daughter of Levi, Judah's brother, as an Arabic writer o asserts; but it is more likely still that she was the daughter of a Canaanite, who was living in the same place, though his name is not mentioned,
o Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 16.