עֲתָיָה
a.ta.yah
Athaiah
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Athaiah: A Biblical Proper Name Based on the lexical data provided, Athaiah (עֲתָיָה) is a proper noun—specifically a personal name—that appears only once in the biblical text. As a hapax legomenon (a word occurring just one time), it offers limited opportunity to establish patterns of usage or semantic range. The term functions exclusively as a name designating an individual, rather than as a common noun with multiple applications. The single occurrence of Athaiah in the Bible means that contextual analysis cannot establish broader significance or common associations with this name. Without additional occurrences, lexicographers cannot determine whether the name carried particular symbolic weight, was common or rare in its historical period, or possessed etymological meaning that would have been meaningful to ancient audiences. The name remains a data point of minimal semantic information—a label for a specific person preserved in the biblical record. For readers seeking to understand biblical vocabulary and theology, hapax legomena like Athaiah serve as reminders of the limited nature of textual evidence. Single occurrences provide identification but not explanation, and their significance must remain uncertain without external historical, archaeological, or linguistic corroboration.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text