Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

One of the famous -WN names is “Ayalon”.  I agree with the traditional 
view that )YLWN as a geographical place name is a west Semitic name that 
means “
Deer Place” and/or “Oak Tree” or something of that type.  [)LWN [with no 
interior yod] at Genesis 12: 6 and 35: 8 [though pointed differently as to 
the L] is the classic Biblical Hebrew spelling of the common word for “oak 
tree
”.  -WN in that connection is considered to be merely a west Semitic 
nominative ending, with )LWN being “prolonged from )YL”, where )YL can mean a 
ram 
or strong tree or anything strong [or, if one ignores the pointing (as is 
probably advisable), a strong male deer].  As to the absence of the interior 
yod/Y in the Hebrew word for “oak tree”, note that the Hebrew word from 
which it is “prolonged” has an interior yod/Y, and see the personal Hebrew 
name )LWN analyzed later in this post.  As just noted, the Hebrew word for 
“ram”
 or “male deer” or “strong tree” or “anything strong” is )YL [once again 
ignoring the medieval pointing], with an interior yod [e.g. Genesis 15: 9 
for “ram”, Deuteronomy 12: 15 for “male deer”, and in the plural the rare “
oak trees”/)YLYM at Isaiah 1: 29].  The word for “male deer” itself does 
not have a -WN ending, but -WN as a west Semitic ending in a place name can 
be 
viewed as the plene spelling version of a -N ending, which basically is a 
nominative ending but in a place name can mean “place”.  Yet the very word “
oak tree”/)LWN has the -WN ending, and it is viewed as deriving from a root 
that has an interior yod/Y, so to me a meaning of “Oak Tree” is the more 
likely explanation of )YLWN/“Ayalon”.  “Deer Place” is the meaning that is 
usually given, however.  “Oak Tree” and/or “Deer Place” are the two likely 
meanings for )YLWN/“Ayalon” as a geographical place name.  The Ayalon 
Valley featured both “oak trees” and “deer”, so either or both meanings would 
be fitting.]    Yet there are still many fascinating questions about this 
name.
 
1.  I disagree with the traditional understanding of how the geographical 
place name “Ayalon” was originally pronounced.  Joshua 10: 12 sets forth the 
standard Biblical Hebrew spelling of “Ayalon”:  )YLWN.  [Although the KJV 
uses two different English spellings for this name, that is simply a 
mistake.]  The interior vav/W near the end is usually viewed as being plene 
spelling, as indicating the vowel O, and with there only being one syllable 
represented by the last three letters:  -LWN.  Historically, however, that is 
not 
likely to be correct.  Consider how a queen who lives in or near the Ayalon 
Valley spells the name “Ayalon” at Amarna Letter EA 273: 20:  a-ia-lu-na.  
The standard Biblical Hebrew spelling of “Ayalon”, such as at Joshua 10: 12, 
appears to match that ancient spelling perfectly:  )-Y-LW-N in Biblical 
Hebrew for the Akkadian cuneiform a-ia-lu-na rendering of this west Semitic 
geographical place name.
 
2.  Even more controversial is the fact that there are three different 
personal names in the Patriarchal narratives which all have spellings similar 
to, but not necessarily identical to, the geographical place name “Ayalon”
/)YLWN and/or the Hebrew common word for “oak tree”/)LWN.  I view the 
following three personal names in the Patriarchal narratives as being three 
different names with different meanings, despite the fact that all are 
traditionally 
transliterated into English as “Elon”.  [1]  )YLN at Genesis 26: 34, a 
male XTY [and hence presumably not a native west Semitic speaker, yet this is 
the only name or word examined in this post that does not have an interior 
vav/W, even though -WN is sometimes a non-Semitic ending];  vs. [2]   )YLWN 
at 
Genesis 36: 2, an individual who is also a XTY [though the spelling of this 
man’s name has the identical letters as the spelling of “Ayalon” at Joshua 
10: 12 above];  vs. [3]   )LWN at Genesis 46: 14, a Hebrew who is a son of 
Zebulun.  
 
#3, being )LWN, is a west Semitic name of a Hebrew, which I view on one 
level as being an alternative spelling of “Ayalon”:  ia-lu-na = )-LW-N;  it 
is 
also the spelling for “oak tree”.  In the Amarna Letters, the well-known 
non-Semitic princeling ruler of Jerusalem, IR-Heba, spells “Ayalon” with one 
less syllable than above:  ia-lu-na at Amarna Letter EA 287: 57.  That is a 
dead ringer for )-LW-N, the Hebrew [west Semitic] name of a son of Zebulun 
at Genesis 46: 14.  If XBRWN is a Patriarchal nickname for the northeast 
Ayalon Valley, which I believe is the case, then it would make sense to honor 
the Patriarchs’ XBRWN in the names of Jacob’s descendants by not only having 
XBR at Genesis 46: 17, right next to MLK-Y-)L,  being the Hebrew version of 
the Amorite name Milk-Ilu of the ruler of the Ayalon Valley in the Amarna 
Letters, but also to have )-LW-N at Genesis 46: 14, which I myself view as 
being, at least on one deliberate level, an alternative spelling of “Ayalon”. 
 
 
[My prior post failed to note that in addition to two sons born in eastern 
Syria whose names end in -WN, namely $M(WN and ZBLWN, three of the sons born 
in eastern Syria in turn have one son whose name likewise ends in -WN, 
namely GR$WN at Genesis 46: 11, $MRWN at Genesis 46: 13, and )LWN at Genesis 
46: 
14.  So we have five Hebrews [all of whom have some connection to eastern 
Syria], and three non-Semitic men [whose original homeland likely was eastern 
Syria], whose names end in -WN in the Patriarchal narratives.  Note also 
the Jebusite non-Semitic name )RWN-H at II Samuel 24: 20 which, after 
dropping 
the Semiticized -H ending, reveals that its non-Semitic ending is -WN.]   
 
#1 and #2 above, by contrast, are names of male XTY, who presumably are 
non-Semitic native speakers who as such should have non-Semitic names.  And 
in 
my opinion they’re not the same non-Semitic name.  In rendering a 
non-Semitic name in Biblical Hebrew, an initial aleph is always prosthetic, 
so )Y- in 
these two non-Semitic names is a diphthong of sorts that represents 
non-Semitic A or Ä.
 
#1, being )Y-L-N at Genesis 26: 34, is in my view the name of the 
non-Semitic goddess Allani.  As always, Hebrew drops the first of doubled 
non-Semitic 
consonants, leaving A-la-ni, which is spelled )Y-L-N.  The full implied 
name means “[Servant of the non-Semitic goddess] Allani”.  There is no 
interior vav/W in this name, so there should be no expectation of an O or U 
or W 
near the end of this non-Semitic name.
 
#2, being )Y-L-W-N at Genesis 36: 2, though containing the identical 
letters as the standard Biblical spelling of the west Semitic name “Ayalon”, 
on a 
non-Semitic analysis has two components.  The first is )Y-L, being äli, 
meaning “feast day”.  The second component is W-N, or wa-an, which though 
coming at the end can mean “in what is of” [or “and of”].  Ä-li-wa-an = 
)Y-L-W-N = “In What Is of the Feast Day [for Te$$up]”.  [In asking whether 
XBRWN 
may be a non-Semitic-based Patriarchal nickname for the Ayalon Valley, it is 
worth noting that a non-Semitic father-in-law of Esau has a non-Semitic 
name that contains the identical letters as the name “Ayalon”.]
 
Note that all three of these personal names in the Patriarchal narratives, 
two of which end in -WN [which can at times be the mark of a non-Semitic 
word or name, though that is not always the case], have completely different 
meanings, despite their fairly similar spellings.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois