על שינוי השמות מ״הOn the Change of Names 45
א׳
1[261] Virtue, then shall bear thee a true-born, male child, one free from all womanish feelings, and thou shalt call his name by the feeling which he raises in thee, which feeling is most surely joy. And therefore thou shalt give him a name significant of joy, even laughter.
ב׳
2[262] Just as fear and grief have their own special ejaculations, which the overpowering force of emotion coins, so moods of happy planning or of gladness compel us to break out into natural utterances, as aptly and exactly expressing our meaning as any which an adept in the study of names could devise.
ג׳
3[263] Therefore he says: “I have blessed him, I will increase and multiply him: he shall beget twelve nations (that is, the whole round and train of the early branches of the professional schools), but my covenant will I establish with Isaac” (Gen. 17:20 f.). Thus both forms of virtue, one where the teacher is another, one where teacher and learner are the same, will be open to human kind. And where man is weak he will claim the former, where he is strong the latter which comes ready to his hands.