ἀλληλούϊα

Forms

ἀλληλούϊα (allēloúïa) ^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew הַלְּלוּיָהּ (halləlūyāh, “praise Yah”), the ritual call of Jewish worship, “praise the Lord”.^[1][2][3][4] It occurs in the Psalms and passed from the Septuagint into the New Testament.^[3][5]

Ancient lexicographers glossed it as “praise the One who is, that is, the Lord”, and Zonaras explained it as a compound of a word for praise and a word for God.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Greek Psalms, in the headings of Psalms 104 and 105 and at the start of Psalm 115, as a call to praise God.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The books of Tobit and 3 Maccabees also use it, and in the New Testament it is the cry of the heavenly multitude in the Book of Revelation.^[2][5][8] It went into Christian and Gnostic worship and into the magical papyri, where it is joined to ἀμήν (amḗn).^[2][9] Hesychius and Zonaras explain it for readers who no longer knew Hebrew.^[6][7]

Latin took it over as Latin allēlūia, the source of English alleluia, recorded from the late 14th century.^[1][10] In medieval vernacular Greek it was the refrain of certain psalms, and it remains a church word in Modern Greek αλληλούια (allilúia), with the phrase “a short psalm, alleluia” said of something soon over.^[11][4]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – The book of Tobit has it in the song of praise for Jerusalem.^[8][2]
• 1st century AD – The Book of Revelation has it four times as the song of the heavenly crowd.^[8][5]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as praise to the God who is.^[6]
• 12th century – A poem of the Prodromic cycle calls on its hearers to sing “alleluia”.^[11]
• 13th century – The lexicon of Zonaras explains it as “praise of God”.^[7]
• Late 14th century – English borrows it through Latin as alleluia.^[10]

Meanings

Interjection

1. (Koine) hallelujah, “praise the Lord”, as a call of praise in the Psalms and in Christian worship.^[2][5][9]

Related words

• ἀμήν (amḗn)
• Latin allēlūia
• English alleluia
• English hallelujah

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
5. ^ a b c d e Thayer, Joseph Henry (1889), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book Company
6. ^ a b c Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
7. ^ a b c Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr