🔼The name Aloth: Summary
- Meaning
- Ascends, Offerings
- Etymology
- From the noun עלה, ascent or offering, from the root עלל ('alal), to go up or be superior.
🔼The name Aloth in the Bible
It's by no means certain that Aloth is a Biblical name, but it might be. And then again, it might not.
The conundrum starts with a town named בעלות (Bealoth), which is mentioned in Joshua 15:23 as one of the southernmost villages of the territory of Judah. The same town may be mentioned again in 1 Kings 4:16, where a man named Baana, a son of Hushai and a deputy of king Solomon, is reported to be stationed in Asher and Bealoth. However, the letter ב, with which our name starts, may be regarded as the particle that means in, and 1 Kings 4:16 may very well read "in Asher and in Aloth".
We honestly don't know which option to choose, and some translations of 1 Kings 4:16 read "in Asher and in Aloth" (Darby, KJV, NIV, Young) while others read "in Asher and Bealoth" (NAS, ASV, JSP).
🔼Etymology of the name Aloth
The name Aloth is an unmistakably plural form of a feminine noun עלה:
עלל
Root עלל ('alal) describes to go up, or to make to go up.
Verb עלל ('alal I) means to repeatedly deal harshly with someone lower or weaker. Noun עוללות ('olelot) means a gleaning and the denominative verb עלל ('alal) means to glean. Nouns עלילה ('alila), עליליה ('alilya), מעלל (ma'alal) and תעלולים (ta'alulim) describe acts of wantonness or repeated self-indulgence: acts of being spoiled.
Hence noun עולל ('olel) means child and the denominative verb עלל ('alal II) means to act like a child (Isaiah 3:12). Verb עלל ('alal III) means to insert or thrust in. Noun על ('ol) means yoke, and (rather grim) noun עליל ('alil) means furnace or crucible.
Verb עול ('ul I) means to feed an infant. Noun עול ('ul) describes a suckling; a very young child. Verb עול ('ul II) means to deviate from or act unjustly (to be childish, but in an ethical sense). Nouns עול ('awel) and עולה ('awla) mean injustice, unrighteousness, and denominative verb עול ('ul) means to act wrongfully. Nouns עויל ('awil II) and עול ('awwal) mean unjust one and may simply refer to a young child.
The ubiquitous verb עלה ('ala) means to go up or ascend, and particle על ('al) denotes any kind of elevation or motion towards someone or something and is commonly translated as "on" or "upon". Noun and adjective עליון ('elyon) means high(est) or upper. Adjective עלי ('illi) means upper. Noun עליה ('aliya) refers to a roof chamber. Preposition מעל (ma'al) means upward, on top of, or above. Noun מעלה (ma'ala) refers to that what comes up, i.e. thoughts. The identical feminine noun מעלה (ma'ala) means step or stair. Noun עלה ('ola), meaning ascent or stairway and may be used to denote a whole burnt offering. Noun מעלה (ma'ala) means ascent. Noun מעל (mo'al) describes a lifting.
Noun עלה ('aleh) refers to a tree's leafage. Noun עלי ('eli) refers to a pestle or crucible. Noun תעלה (te'ala) describes a water-course and the identical noun תעלה (te'ala) means healing.
🔼Aloth meaning
The name Aloth means Offerings or Ascends