אלהא

Aramaic

Alternative forms

• Syriac: ܐܠܗܐ

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-. Cognate with the Arabic إله, Hebrew אֵל (ʾēl), אֱלוֹהַּ / אֱלֹהַּ (ʾĕlṓah), אֱלוֹהִים / אֱלֹהִים (ʾĕlōhīm).

Noun

אֱלָהָא • (ʾĕlāhā) m (plural אֱלָהַיָּא)

1. god, deity
   • Tanach, Daniel 5:4, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     אִשְׁתִּיו חַמְרָא וְשַׁבַּחוּ לֵאלָהֵי דַּהֲבָא וְכַסְפָּא נְחָשָׁא פַרְזְלָא אָעָא וְאַבְנָא׃

     ʾištīw ḥamrā wəšabbáḥū lēlāhē dahăḇā wəḵaspā nəḥāšā p̄arzəlā ʾāʿā wəʾaḇnā.

     They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

   • a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 56b:17:

     כי הוה קא מיית אמר להו ליקליוה לההוא גברא ולבדרי לקיטמיה אשב ימי דלא לשכחיה אלהא דיהודאי ולוקמיה בדינא

     When [Titus] was dying he said to burn him, and to scatter his ashes across the sea, that the God of the Jews may not find him and stand in judgment over him.

Noun

אֱלָהָא • (ʾĕlāhā) m

1. God

Descendants

• Classical Syriac: ܐܠܗܐ
• Turoyo: ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ (aloho)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܵܠܵܗܵܐ (ālāhā)
• Samaritan Aramaic: ࠀࠣࠋࠟࠄࠟࠄ (ʾalāhā)
• Mandaic: ࡀࡋࡀࡄࡀ (alaha)
• Western Neo-Aramaic: ܐܠܳܗ (ʾalōh)
• Lishana Deni: אלהא (ʾelha)
  • Lishana Deni: אילאהא (ʾilāha)

References

• “ˀlh”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Jastrow, Marcus (1903) A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Payne Smith, Jessie (1903) A Compendious Syriac Dictionary Founded Upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith, D.D., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Lishana Deni

Alternative forms

• אילאהא (ʾilāha)

Etymology

From Aramaic אֱלָהָא (ʾĕlāhā)

Proper noun

אֶלְהׇא (ʾelha) m

1. God