Aaron

See also Aäron

English

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Etymology

From Hebrew אהרן (Ahărōn), of unknown meaning, possibly meaning "bearer of martyrs", or perhaps also, or instead, related to the Ancient Egyptian "aha rw" ("warrior lion"), though it has been suggested to also mean "elevated", "exalted" or "high mountain", or "woe to this pregnancy".

Pronunciation

note on the pronunciation

The Hebrew etymon of Aaron, אהרן, was pronounced /aharon/; it was transliterated into Greek as Ἀαρών (/aaron/), and into Latin as Aaron. In Ecclesiastical Latin, the name was and is pronounced with two separate "a" sounds.[1]

The pronunciation of the "aa" as a single sound, /ˈɜ(ə)ɹən/, /ˈæɹən/, originated when the Bible was anglicised, hence modern guides to the pronunciation of Biblical names, including those of the Church of England, the BBC,[2] the Church of Latter-Day Saints,[3] the Oxford English Dictionary[4] and Harper Collins[5] specify the modern English pronunciation as Template:IPAchar/ɛ(ə)ɹən/, where the first syllable sounds like the word air.

The variant form Aron (see Wikipedia) derives from the same Hebrew root, but via Scandinavian and/or Celtic languages; it is pronounced /ærən/ (like the unrelated but homophonous Celtic names Aran and Arran), for which reason Aaron is sometimes pronounced that way, too. In the UK, that pronunciation is sometimes regarded as having chav connotations (like its rhymes, Darren and Sharon).[6]

Proper noun

Aaron

  1. The elder brother of Moses in the Book of the Exodus.
  2. A male given name.
    • 1969 Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Random House, 2002, page 145:
      - - - the Junior Prom with boys whose names are right out of the grade-school reader, not Aaron and Arnold and Marvin, but Johnny and Billy and Jimmy and Tod. Not Portnoy or Pincus, but Smith and Jones and Brown!

Usage notes

The given name was exclusively Jewish in the Middle Ages, taken up by Gentiles in the 17th century, and popular among both in the end of the 20th century.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

biblical brother of Moses
male given name

References

  1. ^ 1937, Michael de Angelis, ''The correct pronunciation of Latin according to Roman usage
  2. ^ 2006, L. Olausson and C. Sangster, Oxford BBC Guide to Prounciation (Oxford Univerity Press), page 1.
  3. ^ "Pronunciation Guide", Church of Latter-Day Saints. URL accessed on 2013-05-01.
  4. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (2013)
  5. ^ 1994, Bible Pronunciation Guide (edited by William O. Walker III, published by Harper Collins, ISBN 0060689625)
  6. ^ Chav: A Branded Guide to Britain's New Elite (Crombie Jardine Publishing Limited, ISBN 1905102011)
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 15:21