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ArchivesRe: Mistake Over Eliana
in reply to a message by Arielle
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
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