Elagabalus

English

Etymology

From Latin Elagabalus. The emperor is named for the deity, whose name is from an Arabic name whose elements are إِلٰه (ʔilāh, “god”) and Arabic جَبَل (jabal, “mountain”).

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: ĕl'əgăbʹələs, IPA^(key): /ˌɛləˈɡæbələs/

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• Hyphenation: El‧a‧gab‧a‧lus

Proper noun

Elagabalus

1. The deity Elagabal, venerated in ancient times at Emesa in Syria (and later elsewhere in the Roman Empire), identified with a large black stone.
   • 1958, Ivar Lissner, Power and Folly: The Story of the Caesars:

     Elagabalus, who was a Sun-god and the patron deity of Emesa, was worshipped   […]

   • 2019, Elias Koulakiotis, Charlotte Dunn, Political Religions in the Greco-Roman World, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 111:

     Obviously, they hoped to conceal the failure of their unhappy experiment in emperorship before, when they stressed the priesthood of Syrian Emesa's main deity Elagabalus as the key factor […]

2. (Ancient Rome) The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (reigned 218–222), noted for eccentricity, femininity, decadence, and disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos.
   • 2023 November 24, Esther Addley, “Was Roman emperor Elagabalus really trans – and does it really matter?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Racial prejudice also played a part, says Icks: before coming to Rome to rule it, Elagabalus was a priest in an obscure cult in Syria that venerated a black stone meteorite – a culture that would have been deeply strange to the Romans.

Synonyms

• Heliogabalus

Translations

a Roman emperor — see also Heliogabalus

• Arabic: إِيل جَبَل m (ʔīl jabal)
• French: Héliogabale m, Elagabal m
• German: Elagabal (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: Ἐλᾱγάβᾱλος m (Elāgábālos), Ἡλιογάβαλος m (Hēliogábalos)

• Italian: Eliogabalo m
• Japanese: エラガバルス (eragabarusu)
• Korean: 엘라가발루스 (ellagaballuseu)
• Latin: Elagabalus m, Heliogabalus m
• Portuguese: Elagábalo m
• Spanish: Heliogábalo m

Latin

Alternative forms

• Heliōgabālus (with influences from Greek Ἥλιος (Hḗlios, “the Sun, a solar deity”))

Etymology

The emperor/empress is named after the deity, whose name is from Classical Syriac ܐܠܗܓܒܠ (ʾĔlāhgabāl, “deity of the mountain”), possibly through Ancient Greek Ἐλᾱγάβᾱλος (Elāgábālos)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /e.laː.ɡaˈbaː.lus/, [ɛɫ̪äːɡäˈbäːɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.la.ɡaˈba.lus/, [eläɡäˈbäːlus]

Proper noun

Elāgabālus m sg (genitive Elāgabālī); second declension

1. The deity Elagabal, venerated in ancient times at Emesa in Syria (and later elsewhere in the Roman Empire), identified with a large black stone.
2. The Roman emperor (or empress) Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (reigned 218–222), noted for eccentricity, femininity, decadence, and disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos.

Declension

Second-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Elāgabālus
Genitive	Elāgabālī
Dative	Elāgabālō
Accusative	Elāgabālum
Ablative	Elāgabālō
Vocative	Elāgabāle

Descendants

• → Italian: Eliogabalo