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תַּאֲנִיָּה

𐤕𐤀𐤍𐤉𐤄

taʼănîyâh

H8386 noun

SILEX Entry

Root אָנָה to lament, to mourn, to wail

Definition

A formal wailing or lamentation, especially in ritual or communal expressions of grief; the act or song of mourning performed in the context of bereavement or national tragedy. The term most often denotes a public or conventional display of sorrow, sometimes led by professional mourners or expressed in poetic form.

Semantic Range

formal lamentation, wailing in mourning, communal expression of grief, ritual mourning, funeral dirge, public or stylized mourning

Root / Etymology

Root: אָנָה (ʼānâ) – to mourn, lament. תַּאֲנִיָּה (taʼănîyâh) is a feminine noun formation from this root, denoting the act or product of mourning or lamentation.

Historical & Contextual Notes

In biblical contexts, תַּאֲנִיָּה appears chiefly in passages describing formal mourning practices among the Israelites, such as rituals for the dead or communal reaction to disaster (e.g., Jeremiah 16:5, 16:6). The noun refers both to the act of lamentation and to the song or utterance of mourning performed at funerals or during times of national calamity. In some instances, it is parallel to קִינָה (qinah), another term for lament or dirge, though תַּאֲנִיָּה may emphasize the expression or outcry of grief rather than the structured poetic form of qinah. The role of professional mourners and prescribed lamentation practices was significant in ancient Israelite society, and this noun is tied to those public rituals. English translations as 'mourning' or 'lamentation' accurately convey the sense but do not always reflect the culturally specific and sometimes performative nature of the action. In later Hebrew and rabbinic literature, related terms retained the association with mourning but shifted further into legal and ritual domains.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

from אָנָה; lamentation; heaviness, mourning.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

אנה (ʾ-n-h) — to lament, to mourn, to wail

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H578 אָנָה and they groaned aloud
H579 אָנָה he brought upon
H590 אֳנִי in a sea-going vessel of
H592 אֲנִיָּה and affliction-cry
H8385 תַּאֲנָה her pretext

Word Forms

1 distinct form

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 Occurrences
H8386-01 תַֽאֲנִיָּה֙ taaniyah HNcfsa a city of lamenting formal lamentation 2

Occurrences in Scripture

2 total occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1
H8386-01 Isaiah 29:2 תַֽאֲנִיָּה֙ taaniyah HNcfsa a city of lamenting formal lamentation
H8386-01 Lamentations 2:5 תַּאֲנִיָּ֖ה taaniyah HNcfsa mourning formal lamentation
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