SULAMITE (Hebr. Šúlammīth, Septuagint Σουναμίτις). — Name given to the bride of the Canticle of Canticles (6:12; 7:1), the shepherdess who loves a shepherd of her own age and from her own village, by whom she is loved in return; both feel themselves drawn by the enchantment of nature and the innocent life of the countryside, in which they have grown up together.
Some have confused her, without justification, Abisag (v.), the young woman of Sunam (and therefore called Sunamite) who was given to support the old King David (I Reg. 1, 3 ff.). The name is probably symbolic: it may be the slightly altered feminine form of Solomon’s name (Šelōmīth, the “peaceful”); this symbolism (Israel, the faithful soul, the Virgin Mary) is related to the general allegory of the Canticle of Canticles.