Return, Return, O Shulamite; Return, Return!

THE translation into the word “Shulamite” is unhappy: it is unmusical, and misses the meaning. The Hebrew word is a feminine of “Solomon.” “Solomon” may stand for the bridegroom’s name, and then the well-beloved bride takes her husband’s name in a feminine form of it, which is Shulamith, Salome, or…