Theophory in the Bible
Theophory is the practice of embedding the name of a god or a deity in, usually, a proper name. Much Hebrew theophory occurs in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. The most prominent theophory involves names referring to:
- El, a word meaning might, power and god in general, and hence in Judaism, God and among the Canaanites the name of the god who was the father of Baal.
- Yah/Jah, a shortened form of Yahweh/Jahweh, the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton YHWH.
- *They are also known as Yahveh/Jahveh and Yehovah/Jehovah.
- Levantine deities by the epithet baal, meaning lord. In later times, as the conflict between Yahwism and the more popular pagan practices became increasingly intense, these names were censored and baal was replaced with bosheth, meaning "shame".
''El'' theophory
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring to El and their meanings in Hebrew:Incorrect El theophory
- 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 in the King James Version.
- The name Jael/Yael 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.
Yah theophory
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring to Yah/Jah and their meanings in Hebrew:Prefix theophors
Suffix theophors
Baal theophory
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:
Bosheth
In later biblical and Jewish writing, some of the theophories in Ba'al were bowdlerised, with ba'al replaced by bosheth shameful :Shaddai theophory
The following is an alphabetical list of names referring to Shaddai and their meanings in Hebrew:Yam theophory
Yam is the Canaanite god of the Sea.Zedek theophory
Zedek was the name of a Phoenician deity worshiped in Canaan. In Hebrew, "tzedek" means "righteous", but Tzedek as a proper noun is the name of the planet Jupiter.The following is an alphabetical list of names referring Zedek, and their meanings in Hebrew: