Brown-Driver-Briggs
אֵלָא proper name, masculine father of an officer of Solomon 1 Kings 4:18 (= II.
אֵלָה terebinth?).
I. אלה (assumed as √ of אֵל, (אֱלוֺהַּ) אֱלֹהִים god, God, but question intricate, & conclusions dubious It is uncertain whether אֵל & אֱלֹהִים are from the same √. Following are the chief theories:
1. a. Thes makes אֵל & אֱלֹהִים distinct, and both really primitive, but associates אֵל in treatment with אֵל strong, Participle of √ אול; strong, according to Thes, being derived from meaning be in front of; (different order in Lex. Man., Rob-Ges);
b. אֵל & אֱלֹהִים distinct; former from אול strong; latter plural of אֱלֹהַּ from √ [אלהּ] = 
(
) go to and fro in perplexity or fear, hence אֱלֹהַּ fear & object of fear, reverence, revered one; 
= פחד אל trepide confugere ad Hosea 3:5; אלהים = פחד Genesis 31:42 = מוֺרָא Isaiah 8:13 DeGn 1887,48 (compare σέβασμα, post-Biblical Hebrewיִרְאָה NHWB; Aramaic דַּחֲלָא CWB); so De following Fl in DeGn ed. 4, 57, compare MV.
2 אֵל & אֱלֹהִים possibly connected; אֵל = leader, lord, from √ אול be in front; so NöMBAk 1880, 760 f; SBAk 1882, 1175 f.
3. a. אֵל & אֱלֹהִים connected, & both from a √ אלה (= אלהּ) to which is assigned meaning strong; so Ew§ 146 d, 178 b (see also Jahrbücher d. bibl. Wiss. x. 11, Bibl. Theol. ii. 330);
b. אֵל from √ אלה strong (not אלהּ), & אֱלֹהִים expanded from אֵל, compare plural אֲמָהוֺת from אמה etc.; so Di on Genesis 1:1; he supports meaning strong by reference to phrase יֵשׁ לְאֵל יָדִי Genesis 31:29 and elsewhere;
c. similarly, אֵל, being very early & common Shemitic word, formed plural אלהים, from which singular אֱלוֺהַּ was afterwards inferred, NesTheol. Stud. a. Württ., 1882, 243 (criticized by NöSBA 1.c.).
4 אֵל (אֱלוֺהַּ, אֱלֹהִים disregarded) from √ אלה stretch out to, reach after (compare preposition אֵל, אֱלִי, also אָלָה swear), God as the one whom men strive to reach, 'das Ziel aller Menschensehnsucht und alles Menschenstrebens,' LagOr. ii. 3; Gn 1882:173 = M 96. — compare SpurrellHebrew Text of Genesis, App. ii, where all these views are stated somewhat more fully, & briefly criticized; on the use of אֵל & אֱלֹהַּ in Shemitic languages see, exhaustively, NöMBAk, SBAk, 1.c.).
