Mistake Over Eliana
This site needs to fix the data on the name 'Eliana'. It is a biblical name, and in Hebrew it means 'My G-d (Ell-ee) has answered (ah-nah). It may be the female equivalent of Eliane, or Elian (sorry, I forget), but its main source is biblical Hebrew.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Replies
Eliana occurs only in the Septuagint which was Greek transliterated, not Hebrew - in Ezra 8:4
Septuagint: "Apo uiwn Faaqmwab Eliana uiov Zaraia kai met'autou diakosioi ta arsenika"
or as it says in King James: "Of the sons of Pahathmoab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males"
Elihoenai/Eliana in this case means 'unto God are my eyes'. This was a male name and fell from use.
St. Eliana was an early martyr - her name was from the Latin Aeliana, feminine form of the family name Aelianus, a hypercorrected form of Elianus or Helianus, from the Greek helios 'sun'. This version of the name continued to be use, albeit very rarely, through the ages.
In modern times, the *modern* Hebrew phrase Eloi y anah 'God has answered/favoured/given' has led to the female name of Eliana, used in Israel and Jewish communities around the world but only in the modern era. It was typically bestowed by parents who struggled to have a family but as the folk etymology of it's meaning and the prettiness of the name itself has caught on in the larger world, that practice has fallen off.
Names are words and words occur spontaneously in different languages - a word meaning one thing in one language doesn't negate all other meanings in all other languages. The entry as it exists is correct, if not all-encompassing.
cheers
Devon
Septuagint: "Apo uiwn Faaqmwab Eliana uiov Zaraia kai met'autou diakosioi ta arsenika"
or as it says in King James: "Of the sons of Pahathmoab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males"
Elihoenai/Eliana in this case means 'unto God are my eyes'. This was a male name and fell from use.
St. Eliana was an early martyr - her name was from the Latin Aeliana, feminine form of the family name Aelianus, a hypercorrected form of Elianus or Helianus, from the Greek helios 'sun'. This version of the name continued to be use, albeit very rarely, through the ages.
In modern times, the *modern* Hebrew phrase Eloi y anah 'God has answered/favoured/given' has led to the female name of Eliana, used in Israel and Jewish communities around the world but only in the modern era. It was typically bestowed by parents who struggled to have a family but as the folk etymology of it's meaning and the prettiness of the name itself has caught on in the larger world, that practice has fallen off.
Names are words and words occur spontaneously in different languages - a word meaning one thing in one language doesn't negate all other meanings in all other languages. The entry as it exists is correct, if not all-encompassing.
cheers
Devon
St. Eliana?
Was there really a St. Eliana? I haven't been able to find any information on one. Nor any place names named after one.
Was there really a St. Eliana? I haven't been able to find any information on one. Nor any place names named after one.
There's no Saint Eliana but there is a Saint Elian. His feastday is January 13. A name who resembles to Eliana is Eliena, whose feastday is April 20.
If it's a biblical name, where does it appear in the Bible?