Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Lord. Used in Judaism as a spoken substitute for the ineffable name of God.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A Hebrew name of God, reverentially used in reading as a substitute for the “ineffable name” JHVH, that is, Jehovah. See Adonist and Jehovah.
Wiktionary
- n. YHWH, the ineffable name of God, is read as Adonai ("My Lord") or as Elohim. The word Adonai is normally used only in prayer, else the speaker risks taking the Lord’s name in vain. In normal speech, the word HaShem ("The Name") is used instead.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A Hebrew name for God, usually translated in the Old Testament by the word “Lord”.
Etymologies
- From Hebrew אֲדֹנָי, "My Lord"; used in place of the Tetragrammaton YHWH as a name of the God of the Hebrews during prayer recitation. (Wiktionary)
- Hebrew 'ădônāy, my lord : 'ādôn, lord; see אd in Semitic roots + -ay, my. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“[3299] All that can be remarked on this is, that the Jews substituted the term Adonai (#D+N+aJ+) for the name Jehovah, as often as the latter occurred in the sacred text.”
ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
“The term Adonai is used in the Shema prayer that is the ultimate prayer for Jews.”
“Adonai" is the Hebrew for "Lord" (subsituted in for YHWH when reading aloud from the Torah).”
“Greenberg explains that "the word Adonai comes from a root meaning support for a pole of the tabernacle, so I often translate it as Foundation or Upholder.”
“As to the appellation Adonai, sometimes it denotes what is nameable [3299] and admirable; but at other times, when the letter Daleth in it is doubled, and the word receives an initial”
ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
“The word Adonai signifies Sovereign Creator of all things.”
The Mysteries of Free Masonry Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's Lodge
“Whenever it occurs in the Hebrew Text, they substitute the word Adonai in its place.”
The Mysteries of Free Masonry Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's Lodge
“Adonai, is very emphatic, and intimates a very awful sense of God's glorious majesty and a dread of his wrath.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“Jacob; and my name Adonai have I not shown unto them. ”
Nature and Grace: Selections from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas
“My name Adonai I did not show them ": David also said (Ps. 118: 100):”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Adonai’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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gods
A list of mythological gods that people have worshipped throughout history (includes primordial dieties).
They can be animate or inanimate (male or female). 3+ syllables
Please ...Aphrodite, Aurora, Asclepius, Veiovis, Athena, Morpheus, Discordia, Hephaestus, Adonai, Osiris, Protogenoi, Calypso and 4 more...
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