EL. - The primitive and personal name of God among all the ancient Semites: Hebrew and Aramaic 'E., Akkadian ilu, Arabic ilāh, as proved by the very ancient and frequent theophoric names composed with 'E. (M. Noth, Die israelitischen Personennamen, Stuttgart 1928, pp. 83-91); and the texts of Rās Samrah (cf. Revue biblique, 48 [1939], p. 153; G. B. Roggia, p. 570 ff.). As nomadic cattle-breeders, the Semites better preserved the primitive idea of the Great God (W. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, I, 2, Münster in West. 1912, pp. 672-93).
This original monotheism begins to grow dim as the various Semitic groups come into contact with peoples of another religion. In Mesopotamia, already in the time of Abraham, the monotheistic notion was confused, and the patriarch returns to it through revelation by 'E. himself. Thus in the Old Testament 'E. is the most ancient appellation of the one God, who as "God of Israel" will be called Jahweh; it distinctly expresses the divine nature. Usually it is joined with a specification: an attribute (God who sees me, etc.) or another divine name ('E.-Šaddaj, 'E-'eljôn); only in poetic language is it found alone and without the article (175 times in the Psalms, 53 times in Job). In an improper sense, it is also used for the false divinities of other peoples, just as the plural 'elīm (Ex. 15, 11; Dan. 11, 36). Cf. F. Zorell, p. 51 ff.
The etymology of 'E. is uncertain: "the mighty one," from 'ôl, or 'il "he was mighty," or from 'Allâh "he was strong" (cf. Gen. 31, 20; Deut. 28, 32). According to H. Bauer, just as the Arabic lunum ("he") indicates Allâh, so the proto-Semitic 'il ("that one there") would have become the name of the Supreme Being (G. B. Roggia, p. 564).
Bibliography9 worksM. J. Lagrange, Études sur les religions sémitiques, 2nd ed., Paris 1905, pp. 70-83, and in Revue biblique, 47 (1938), p. 181; W. Gesenius-F
BIBL.: M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les religions sémitiques, 2nd ed., Paris 1905, pp. 70-83, and in Revue biblique, 47 (1938), p. 181; W. Gesenius-F. Buhl, Hebräisches Handwörterbuch, 16th ed., Leipzig 1921, pp. 36-37; C. Brockelmann, Allâh und die Götzen, der Ursprung des vorstümischen Monotheismus, in Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, 21 (1922), pp. 99-121; H. Bauer, Die Gottheiten von Ras Schamra, in Zeitschrift für alttest. Wissenschaft, 51 (1933), p. 83 ff.; I. Zolli, Israele, Udine 1935, pp. 85-88; R. Dussaud, Les découvertes de Ras Shamra et l'Ancien Testament, Paris 1936, pp. 67 ff., 115 ff.; W. Schmidt, Manuale di storia comparata delle religioni, Italian trans., 2nd ed., Brescia 1938, pp. 314-19, 476; C. B. Roggia, Alcune osservazioni sul culto di El a Ras Samra in Aesam, 15 (1941), pp. 359-75; F. Zorell, Lexicon hebraicum, I, Rome 1950, pp. 50-51.
Spadafora, Francesco. “El.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, coll. 190–191. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/el.
MLA
Spadafora, Francesco. “El.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, coll. 190–191. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/el.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_el,
author = {Spadafora, Francesco},
title = {El},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {190--191},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/el}
}
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