While L. Frank Baum claimed that he took the name “Oz” from a filing cabinet drawer, there’s some doubt as to whether this is actually true or just something he thought was more interesting than the truth, I couldn’t say. I believe his widow did discount the filing cabinet explanation at one point. Considering how short the word is, it’s no surprise that people have tried to connect it with all sorts of other things: the abbreviation for ounces, the Egyptian King Ozymandias (actually a Greek transliteration of “Ussermattre,” or “Ra’s mighty truth,” part of Ramesses II’s throne name), the ohs and ahs of delighted children, Charles Dickens’ pen name Boz (this was the name of Ozma’s grandfather in Ray Powell’s Mister Flint in Oz, and the original name of Nox the Ox in Ruth Plumly Thompson’s Handy Mandy in Oz), etc.
Nowadays it’s a common nickname for Australia, said to date back to 1908, eight years after Baum first used it as a place name. In his 1907 book Ozma of Oz, he had Dorothy and Uncle Henry visit Australia, but made no indication of any relation between the names. And any modern reader of the Book of Job is likely to think of Oz when reading that the Bible story takes place in the Land of Uz. In fact, I remember Gili Bar-Hillel mentioning years ago that the first translation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Hebrew called the place Uz. As I mentioned before, nobody really knows where Uz was located, if it was even supposed to be a real location at all, but references to it in the Bible link it to Edom.
In the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, Uz is identified as a son of Aram, legendary forefather of the Arameans of modern-day Syria. In the Greek Septuagint, the land is called Ausitis. The Wikipedia entry mentions that the name “may also be related etymologically to the word oz, meaning ‘east,'” but gives no citation for this and doesn’t say what language that word is. Most of what I’ve found online has it that, in Hebrew, uz means “counsel” and oz means “strength.” Whether either of these has any link to the Land of Oz (whether in fact or in fiction), I couldn’t say. It does appear that the Biblical Uz is a fertile land surrounded by desert, however, so the two places have that in common. And Job and Dorothy both hung around with three friends, although Dorothy’s were a lot more helpful.
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The Hebrew “Oz” is pronounced “Ohz”, not “Ahz”. And Job’s home in Hebrew is “Utz”.
Hey, Strut of the Strat calls it the Land of Ohz, even if no one else does.
Pingback: A Show of Patrioztism | VoVatia
THNX GREAT ARTICLE. (Was jus now reading book of Job and thought to google “Uz seems similar to Oz”
Yeah, I don’t know if there’s actually a connection there, but there could be.
You might find this interesting: In Chronicles it gives all of the names of creation and one set of names is connected to the land of Oz or Uz. The following names which when interpreted tell a story or describe a hidden place. There are ten names which apparently refer to the attributes of the hidden Sons of Light on earth, the first is Shem meaning the Name of the source of all or a creative function from the Divine. The next is Elam which means a concealed place or somewhere hidden from history. The next is Asshur meaning harmonious and given to higher melodies. Then Arpachshad which refers to a region of the stars. Next is Lud which means disassociation (from the world) and bringing something forth. Aram refers to being exulted and productive. Then comes Uz or Oz which means to consult. The next name is Hul which means a place in the sky or over the rainbow with its own time cycle. Gether means receiving place and finally Mash which means the harvest from the heavens or gifts brought forth.
A lot of these legendary ancestors had the names of the tribes they supposedly founded, so maybe Uz was intended to be the ancestor of the inhabitants of the land where Job would live. Or he could have been the first ruler of the Land of Oz.