🔼The name Aliah: Summary
- Meaning
- Up To Yah
- Etymology
- From (1) the root עלל ('alal), to go up or be superior, and possibly (2) יה (yah), the name of the Lord.
🔼The name Aliah in the Bible
The name Aliah occurs only one time in the Bible. In 1 Chronicles 1:51 he is mentioned as a chief of Edom. In Genesis 36:40 he is called Alvah, and is reported to be a descendant of Esau, the brother of Jacob who became Israel.
🔼Etymology of the name Aliah
Scholars appear to agree that the name Aliah is an adapted form of the name Alvah, and both come from the following root group:
עלל
Root עלל ('alal) describes to go up, or to make to go up.
Verb עלל ('alal I) means to repeatedly deal harshly with someone lower or weaker. Noun עוללות ('olelot) means a gleaning and the denominative verb עלל ('alal) means to glean. Nouns עלילה ('alila), עליליה ('alilya), מעלל (ma'alal) and תעלולים (ta'alulim) describe acts of wantonness or repeated self-indulgence: acts of being spoiled.
Hence noun עולל ('olel) means child and the denominative verb עלל ('alal II) means to act like a child (Isaiah 3:12). Verb עלל ('alal III) means to insert or thrust in. Noun על ('ol) means yoke, and (rather grim) noun עליל ('alil) means furnace or crucible.
Verb עול ('ul I) means to feed an infant. Noun עול ('ul) describes a suckling; a very young child. Verb עול ('ul II) means to deviate from or act unjustly (to be childish, but in an ethical sense). Nouns עול ('awel) and עולה ('awla) mean injustice, unrighteousness, and denominative verb עול ('ul) means to act wrongfully. Nouns עויל ('awil II) and עול ('awwal) mean unjust one and may simply refer to a young child.
The ubiquitous verb עלה ('ala) means to go up or ascend, and particle על ('al) denotes any kind of elevation or motion towards someone or something and is commonly translated as "on" or "upon". Noun and adjective עליון ('elyon) means high(est) or upper. Adjective עלי ('illi) means upper. Noun עליה ('aliya) refers to a roof chamber. Preposition מעל (ma'al) means upward, on top of, or above. Noun מעלה (ma'ala) refers to that what comes up, i.e. thoughts. The identical feminine noun מעלה (ma'ala) means step or stair. Noun עלה ('ola), meaning ascent or stairway and may be used to denote a whole burnt offering. Noun מעלה (ma'ala) means ascent. Noun מעל (mo'al) describes a lifting.
Noun עלה ('aleh) refers to a tree's leafage. Noun עלי ('eli) refers to a pestle or crucible. Noun תעלה (te'ala) describes a water-course and the identical noun תעלה (te'ala) means healing.
But as written, our name also bears striking witness of two common elements, the first being על ('al), the particle governing a motion towards treated above, and the final one being יה (Yah), which normally serves as an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, YHWH, or Yahweh.
🔼Aliah meaning
NOBSE Study Bible Name List doesn't treat Aliah separately but reads High, Tall for a meaning of Alvah. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names also doesn't have a separate entry for Aliah and reads Iniquity for a meaning of Alvah.
The way it is written, the name Aliah also means Up To The Lord.