אליה

Hebrew

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

(Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /(ʔ)eˈle(h)a/

Preposition

אֵלֶיהָ • ('eléha)

Form of אֶל (él) including third-person feminine singular personal pronoun as object.

Etymology 2

Shortened from of אֵלִיָּהוּ ('Eliyáhu, “Elijah”).

Pronunciation

(Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /(ʔ)eliˈja/

Proper noun

אֵלִיָּה • ('Eliyá) m

a male given name, equivalent to English Elijah

Etymology 3

Root
א־ל־ה (ʾ-l-h)
1 term

From Proto-West Semitic *ʔalyat-, which is derived from the root אָלָה (“to be round, i.e. to be thick, fat”), and hence they are named after their composition and appearance.

Pronunciation

(Biblical Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ʔalˈjaː/
(Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /(ʔ)alˈja/

Noun

אַלְיָה • ('alyá) f (plural indefinite אַלְיוֹת, singular construct אַלְיַת־, plural construct אַלְיוֹת־) [pattern: קַטְלָה]

(Biblical Hebrew) tail of a fat-tailed sheep (a type of domestic sheep)
- Tanach, Leviticus 3:9, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:
  וְהִקְרִיב מִזֶּבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים אִשֶּׁה לַיהֹוָה חֶלְבּוֹ הָאַלְיָה תְמִימָה לְעֻמַּת הֶעָצֶה יְסִירֶנָּה וְאֶת־הַחֵלֶב הַמְכַסֶּה אֶת־הַקֶּרֶב וְאֵת כׇּל־הַחֵלֶב אֲשֶׁר עַל־הַקֶּרֶב׃
  And he shall present of the sacrifice of peace-offerings an offering made by fire unto the LORD: the fat thereof, the fat tail entire, which he shall take away hard by the rump-bone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards.
- Tanach, Leviticus 9:19, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:
  וְאֶת־הַחֲלָבִים מִן־הַשּׁוֹר וּמִן־הָאַיִל הָאַלְיָה וְהַמְכַסֶּה וְהַכְּלָיֹת וְיֹתֶרֶת הַכָּבֵד׃
  And the fat of the ox, and of the ram, the fat tail, and that which covereth the inwards, and the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver.

Notes

Biblical sacrifices involving sheep do not mention this tail as something remarkable or something that only certain sheep possess, implying that fat-tailed sheep were the most common domesticated type in the region during that time. This is further confirmed by the widespread existence of cognates among the other Semitic languages, such as Arabic أَلْيَة (ʔalya) and Amharic ላት (lat).

References

H451 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Klein, Ernest (1987) “אַלְיָה”, in A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English‎^[1], Jerusalem: Carta, →ISBN, page 30b
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, page 68b