Loading AI tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theophory is the practice of embedding the name of a god or a deity in, usually, a proper name.[note 1] Much Hebrew theophory occurs in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible). The most prominent theophory involves names referring to:
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring to El and their meanings in Hebrew:
The name Abel, which appears to refer to El, in fact is not an instance of theophory. Abel can be translated as "breath", "temporary" or "meaninglessness" and is the word translated as "vanity" in Ecclesiastes 1:2 in the King James Version.
The name Jael also appears to refer to El in English, but contains ayin rather than the aleph of El.
The name Eli also appears to refer to El in English, but contains ayin rather than aleph.
The name Rachel also appears to refer to El in English, but contains chet.
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring to Shaddai and their meanings in Hebrew:
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring to Yah/Yahweh and their meanings in Hebrew:
Ba'al is a generic term meaning master; it can also be translated "Lord". In the Bible, it is frequently a reference to Hadad, although it is sometimes used to refer to other specific deities, including Yahweh, and on other occasions is used to refer to an arbitrary lord of this area.
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring Ba'al, and their meanings in Hebrew:
In later biblical and Jewish writing, some of the theophories in Ba'al were bowdlerised, with ba'al replaced by bosheth ((the) shameful (thing)):
Yam is the Canaanite god of the Sea.
Zedek (or Sydyk or Sedek) was the name of a Phoenician deity worshiped in Canaan. In Hebrew, "tzedek" (from the root tz-d-k) means "righteous".
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring Zedek, and their meanings in Hebrew:
Apart from oblique references to Hadad by means of the word ba'al, some theophory references him directly:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.