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ArchivesRe: Neo-Hebraic Etymologies, Aaron & Elijah...
in reply to a message by Sabertooth
In my opinion, these don't feel right syntactically.
Aaron: First of all, I can't think of cases in which a yud is ignored completely during translation and not turned into a Y or a J, especially when it's from the element yah. Names that begin with this element also have a vowel sound right after it (Yehonatan, Yehonadav, etc.) and don't jump right in with a glottal stop that would render the name unpronounceable. If you want to add these elements together you'd get something like Yaha'aron which is not what you're aiming for. Additionally, the meaning you're looking for has a perfectly good phrase already, in which the words are in the opposite order (aron adonai). So, all in all, this meaning and spelling for Aaron/Aharon is a really big stretch, and feels very wrong to me.
Elijah: I don't feel as though 'eli + yah would get an E sound at the beginning, that feels very odd grammatically. On the other hand, Aliyah exists as a word and does not contain the yah element so I am not sure what it would turn into. Elijah feels like a stretch to me.
Anyway, I'm sorry I'm not an expert on ancient Hebrew or linguistics so I can't give you any actual analysis (or anything much past a gut feeling). I hope this helps.
Aaron: First of all, I can't think of cases in which a yud is ignored completely during translation and not turned into a Y or a J, especially when it's from the element yah. Names that begin with this element also have a vowel sound right after it (Yehonatan, Yehonadav, etc.) and don't jump right in with a glottal stop that would render the name unpronounceable. If you want to add these elements together you'd get something like Yaha'aron which is not what you're aiming for. Additionally, the meaning you're looking for has a perfectly good phrase already, in which the words are in the opposite order (aron adonai). So, all in all, this meaning and spelling for Aaron/Aharon is a really big stretch, and feels very wrong to me.
Elijah: I don't feel as though 'eli + yah would get an E sound at the beginning, that feels very odd grammatically. On the other hand, Aliyah exists as a word and does not contain the yah element so I am not sure what it would turn into. Elijah feels like a stretch to me.
Anyway, I'm sorry I'm not an expert on ancient Hebrew or linguistics so I can't give you any actual analysis (or anything much past a gut feeling). I hope this helps.
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Replies
Thanks for the critique.
This is what I noticed with |'Aharown|,
We have been taught that when G-d changed the names of Abram "spacey father" or "delusional father" & Sarai "contentious," He did so by adding part of His name to theirs, forming AbrAHam "major patriarch" & SarAH "princess." Is this not consistent with Hebrew teaching?
It seemed to me that the leading |AH| in |'AHarown| might also be the same element. (They all lacked the leading |y-| consonant.)
Also, I have seen JARON given to be a variant of AARON in some baby name books, which would be consistent with my proposed alternative etymology.
This is what I noticed with |'Aharown|,
We have been taught that when G-d changed the names of Abram "spacey father" or "delusional father" & Sarai "contentious," He did so by adding part of His name to theirs, forming AbrAHam "major patriarch" & SarAH "princess." Is this not consistent with Hebrew teaching?
It seemed to me that the leading |AH| in |'AHarown| might also be the same element. (They all lacked the leading |y-| consonant.)
Also, I have seen JARON given to be a variant of AARON in some baby name books, which would be consistent with my proposed alternative etymology.
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In the Bible itself, it says straightforwardly that the extra heh that was added to Abram's name came from the word "hamon", meaning many, referring to his fathering many nations. That's also what it says on this site's entry. I'm pretty sure the whole "heh from God's name" thing came up much later as part of a folk etymology in some of the interpretations.
Anyway, the added heh only makes sense when added to the M that already ended his name, because it gives the name a whole new meaning. This means it is definitely not the same element as in Aharon (which is probably not even Hebrew in origin).
Jaron is from Yaron - totally separate name. Baby name books are not always correct. Yuds do not randomly disappear from Hebrew spellings of a name, especially when they are part of the element yah.
Anyway, the added heh only makes sense when added to the M that already ended his name, because it gives the name a whole new meaning. This means it is definitely not the same element as in Aharon (which is probably not even Hebrew in origin).
Jaron is from Yaron - totally separate name. Baby name books are not always correct. Yuds do not randomly disappear from Hebrew spellings of a name, especially when they are part of the element yah.
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