I. Name

According to Albright (1968:165) both the oak, Quercus coccifera, Quercus aegilops, אלון, ʾēlôn or ʾallôn, and the terebinth, *אלה, were deified in the Mediterranean area.

The common view is that אלון, like אלה and אל, is connected with the root *אול II, ‘to be first’ or ‘to be strong’. Pope claims that the etymology of אל remains obscure and he simply refuses to decide whether אל, אלה, and אלון should be derived from ʾw/yl or from some other root (1955:16–19). In his review of Pope’s monograph Albr…