Back إيل (إله) Arabic El (tanrı) Azerbaijani Ел Bulgarian El Catalan El (Gott) German Ελ (Καναάν) Greek El (ŝemida dio) Esperanto El (dios semítico) Spanish El (jumal) Estonian El Basque
| El | |
|---|---|
Father of the Gods | |
&sq=engine&lang=en&file=File:El,_the_Canaanite_creator_deity,_Megiddo,_Stratum_VII,_Late_Bronze_II,_1400-1200_BC,_bronze_with_gold_leaf_-_Oriental_Institute_Museum,_University_of_Chicago_-_DSC07734.JPG) Gilded statuette of El from Tel Megiddo | |
| Other names | |
| Abode | Mount Lel |
| Symbol | Bull |
| Region | Levant (particularly Canaan) and Anatolia |
| Genealogy | |
| Consort |
|
| Children | |
| Equivalents | |
| Syrian | Dagon[1][2] |
| Mesopotamian | Anu, Enlil[3][4] |
| Hurrian | Kumarbi[3][4] |
| Roman | Saturn |
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| Deities of the ancient Near East |
|---|
| Religions of the ancient Near East |
| Part of the myth series on Religions of the ancient Near East |
| Pre-Islamic Arabian deities |
|---|
| Arabian deities of other Semitic origins |
El (/ɛl/ EL; also 'Il, Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎍 ʾīlu; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤋 ʾīl;[6] Hebrew: אֵל ʾēl; Syriac: ܐܺܝܠ ʾīyl; Arabic: إل ʾil or إله ʾilāh[clarification needed]; cognate to Akkadian: 𒀭, romanized: ilu) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning 'god' or 'deity', or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, 'ila, represents the predicate form in the Old Akkadian and Amorite languages.[7] The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-.[8]
Specific deities known as 'El, 'Al or 'Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion[9] and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia.[10] Among the Hittites, El was known as Elkunirsa (Hittite: 𒂖𒆪𒉌𒅕𒊭 Elkunīrša).
Although El gained different appearances and meanings in different languages over time, it continues to exist as -il or -el in compound proper noun phrases such as Ishmael, Israel, Samuel, Daniel, Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel.
- ^ Fontenrose 1957, p. 277–279.
- ^ Feliu 2007, p. 301.
- ^ a b Güterbock 1983, p. 325–326.
- ^ a b Archi 2004, p. 329.
- ^ du Mesnil du Buisson, Robert (1969). "Le décor asiatique du couteau de Gebel el-Arak" [The Asian decor of the Gebel el-Arak knife] (PDF). BIFAO (in French). Vol. 68. Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. pp. 63–83. ISSN 0255-0962. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ "Online Phoenician Dictionary". Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ Cross 1997, p. 14.
- ^ Kogan, Leonid (2015), Genealogical Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. p. 147.
- ^ Matthews 2004, p. 79.
- ^ Gelb 1961, p. 6.