Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>]

Well, 'EL may be a contracted form of 'ELOAH  (though hardly vice versa)
or otherwise derived from the root 'LH; or it may be derived from the
root 'YL meaning "strength, power", as in 'AYIL "ram", "leader". But I
don't see how both of these can be true at the same time. BDB has a
summary of some options (pp.41-42), but a lot of this is pure
speculation.

Peter Kirk

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Schmuel [mailto:schmuel AT bigfoot.com]
> Sent: 29 January 2002 18:29
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: Elohim plurality
> 
<snip>
> 
>   Elohim is a masculine plural noun. Eloah, the singular form of the
word,
> appears 54 times and is also used in reference to both the true God
and to
> false gods. Eloah is from the Hebrew El, which appears 226 times.  El
> signifies strength and power.
> 
<snip>