# Elias



## Perseas

Hello,

From what I know, the name _Elias_ (_Ηλίας_, Gr. alphabet) derives from Hebrew _Ēlīyyāhū _(_אֵלִיָּהוּ_); another form of it (the English one?) is _Elijah. _This name means "My God is Yahweh".
Can someone tell me which part in _Ēlīyyāhū _(_אֵלִיָּהוּ_) means "my"/"God"/"is"/"Yahweh" respectively?
Thanks in advance!


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## bearded

Hi 
There is no "is". 
Eli = my God (El+possessive i) 
Yahu (God's name)


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## Awwal12

Yes, Semitic languages are well known for missing the copulas in the present tense (in fact, a lot of languages do the same, the East Slavic ones included).


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## Abaye

Many biblical names have two variants, one with theophoric suffix _-yah_ end the other _-yah*u*_. For example Eliyyah-Eliyyah*u* (Elijah), Hezekiah-Hezekiah*u*. The final "u" can be interpreted in two ways: either as part of the God's shortened name, or as a copula. I think that the latter is regarded as folk etymology, yet it is not an uncommon explanation.


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## Perseas

Abaye said:


> either as part of the God's shortened name


In this case, Yahweh is the full name of God and Yahu the shortened one. Is my understanding right?


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## bearded

Perseas said:


> In this case, Yahweh is the full name of God and Yahu the shortened one. Is my understanding right?


Yes.
Abaye, can the final u be interpreted as a male nominative case, like in Arabic?


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## Abaye

Perseas said:


> In this case, Yahweh is the full name of God and Yahu the shortened one. Is my understanding right?


Yes, this is the notion.



bearded said:


> Abaye, can the final u be interpreted as a male nominative case, like in Arabic?


No, Hebrew lost cases practically everywhere (ADDED: maybe there's an hypothesis that for proper names the ancient case markers survived till biblical times? I don't know).

Suffix _-hu_ (Hebrew  הו-) can be interpreted (correctly or not) as a short form of the word הוא hu _"(he) is"_. It happens is other words, for example זה הוא _ze hu_ ("he/it is") becomes one word זהו _zehu_.


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## berndf

bearded said:


> Abaye, can the final u be interpreted as a male nominative case, like in Arabic?


The Semitic case endings are short (except in some Akkadian genitive forms, which suggests a possible PS _-ī_ in non-constructed state derived from _-im_ with compensatory lengthening). They can never explain a long -_ū._


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## berndf

Abaye said:


> Perseas said:
> 
> 
> 
> In this case, Yahweh is the full name of God and Yahu the shortened one. Is my understanding right?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, this is the notion.
Click to expand...

This assumes a two stage shortening: יהוה (however it was pronounced) > יהו (yāhū) > יה (yā(h)). Right?


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## Abaye

-yahu is regarded as earlier than -yah, so it is likely to happen in two steps.

Notice that we Jews are very sensitive in regard to saying or writing God's name. This second step, which made the suffix less similar to God's name, is considered by some as motivated by religious sentiments rather than a pure lingual development. Although this second step started in the bible, it continued strongly in later Hebrew, Mishnah and Gemara. For example, the Prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah) is never Yeshayah in the bible, but it is in post biblical Hebrew.


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## WadiH

Abaye said:


> Yes, this is the notion.



Why is it shortened?  Does the shortening occur outside proper names like Eliyahu?


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## berndf

There are many names with variants ending in יהו- and יה-, like ירמיהו and ירמיה (Jeremiah).


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## elroy

Perseas said:


> This name means "My God is Yahweh".


It actually means “Yahweh is my God.”  “Yahweh” is a post-positioned subject, and “my God” is a pre-posed predicate.

Compare: Daniel = God (“el”) is my judge (“dani”).


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## WadiH

berndf said:


> There are many names with variants ending in יהו- and יה-, like ירמיהו and ירמיה (Jeremiah).



But why is it -yhu and not -yhwh?


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## berndf

WadiH said:


> But why is it -yhu and not -yhwh?


For the same reason people in your country don't have whisky with their pork sausages. You are aware that pronouncing yhwh is about the worst crime possible in Judaism?


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## WadiH

berndf said:


> For the same reason people in your country don't have whisky with their pork sausages. You are aware that pronouncing yhwh is about the worst crime possible in Judaism?



Lol Could you have found a more condescending way to answer my question Bernd?

I am aware of the prohibition (it was mentioned above) but I am not privy to the nuances of how it applies, its history or how it interplayed with theophoric names, and it was not obvious at all from the discussion whether the truncated form arose from religious concerns or a separate linguistic rule or process. Thank you for confirming that it was the former.


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## berndf

WadiH said:


> Lol Could you have found a more condescending way to answer my question Bernd?


Sorry, it was too tempting.


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