αλληλουια <Semitic; Hellenistic period>
👉 αλληλουια or ἁλληλουϊά – an interjection ‘hallelujah’, being a shout of joy, with the original meaning ‘praise Yahweh!’ (LXX: Ps. 104.1, 105.1 etc.; Tob. 13.18; 3 Mach. 7.13; NT: Apoc. 19.1, 3, 4, 6; PGM VII 271: 3rd-4th c. CE; etc.).
⚠ Hieronym., Comm. in Ps. 116 (p. 84), 146, (p. 99), explains that alleluia is a Hebrew expression meaning ‘laudate Dominum’; he also gives (Ps. 104, p.76f.) some details about the usage of alleluia by the Jews in his times.
🅔 A transliteration of the Hebrew expression haləlû-Yāh ‘praise Yahweh!’ (BH: Ps. 104.35, 105.45, 106.1, 48 etc.); haləlû is an imperative (2. pl. m.) of the verb hll ‘praise, boast’ and Yāh is a shortened form of Yhwh ‘Yahweh’. Note the gemination -λλ- in Greek vs. a lack of the dagesh ḥazaq (a dot indicating a gemination) in the Masoretic text.
📖 Data: DCH: II, 559-562 and IV, 114; HALOT: 248f. and 393. Ref.: BDAG: 40; Engberding 1950; GELS: 20.