alleluia

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin alleluia, used as an interjection in the Vulgate and as a noun for the liturgical chant by Augustine and Jerome,^[2][3][4] from Koine Greek ἀλληλούια (allēloúia) of the Septuagint,^[2][4][5][6] which renders Biblical Hebrew הַלֲלוּיָהּ (hallĕlūyāh, “praise the Lord”),^[2][7][8][5] literally "praise ye Yah", from the plural imperative of the verb meaning "to praise" and a short form of the name of God.^[2][5][6] The OED compares Anglo-Norman alleluie, allelue and Middle French alleluia, and the same word in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Middle Dutch and Middle High German;^[2] Etymonline takes the 12th-century English form from alleluie in Old French.^[9] The form hallelujah was taken directly from the Hebrew in the 16th century.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The exclamation "praise the Lord!" in worship, already in Old English, in the translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History;^[2] and as a noun, a singing of "alleluia", in the Old English Rule of St Benedict.^[2][10] Ælfric explained that alleluia is a Hebrew word meaning Laudate dominum in Latin.^[2] Other dictionaries date the English word to before 1200 (Barnhart), 1175–1225 (Dictionary.com), the 13th century (Hoad) or the late 14th century (Etymonline).^{[11][12][13][9]}

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word was usually left uninflected, though as a noun it was sometimes declined as a weak feminine, and scribes often abbreviated it as ałła after Latin practice.^[2] In the medieval liturgy the alleluia was sung from Easter to Pentecost, and an early 13th-century copy of the Benedictine Rule says so;^[14] Middle English spoke of closing the alleluia at Septuagesima, when it stopped being sung until Easter.^[14] The Wycliffite Bible glossed it "Herie ȝe the Lord!", praise ye the Lord.^[14] From the late Middle Ages the name was also given to the wood sorrel, because it flowers between Easter and Whitsun, when "alleluia" ends every antiphon of the Office;^[4][2][3] in 19th-century dialect alleluia was the dyer's greenweed in Shropshire and the wood sorrel in Dorset.^[15] Since the 16th century the form hallelujah has been the usual one outside the liturgy, while alleluia remains the liturgical form.^[16][9] In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is also an expression of humble mourning,^[3] and the OED notes weakened or ironic uses today.^[2]

Timeline

• Old English – interjection, praise the Lord.^[2]
• Old English – noun, a singing of alleluia, a song of praise; a liturgical chant.^[2][10]
• before 1225 – the alleluia of the Office, sung from Easter to Pentecost.^[14]
• 14th century – the wood sorrel.^[3][4]
• c. 1384 – in the Wycliffite Bible, glossed "Herie ȝe the Lord!".^[14]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Praise the Lord: used in hymns, psalms and the liturgy, where it is more usual than hallelujah.^[16][3][2]

Noun

1. A song or shout of praise to God: The choir closed with a joyful alleluia.^[16][2]
2. (Christianity) A responsory chant of alleluias; especially the part of the Mass sung after the gradual, made of alleluias and a verse, usually from a psalm.^[3][4][14]
3. The wood sorrel, which flowers at Easter time; also, in some dialects, the woodwaxen or dyer's greenweed.^[3][4][15]

Related words

• hallelujah
• Hallel
• Jehovah
• Yahweh

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins