The name Jeremiah (Ermias) and its Ancient Semitic roots

“Sublime [verb], Celestialize” or “Divinify.”

The name Jeremiah is the Latin form of the Hebrew ” יִרְמְיָהוּ (Yirməyah)”¹ (Abarim Publications, 2006).

Biblical reference: “he had him flogged and put him in the stocks at the Upper Binyamin Gate of the house of Adonai“² (biblegateway.com).

The cognate, Ermias, is the Hellenized [Greek] form adopted by several languages in the Bible.

With the exception of a few, Semitic roots are triliterals; each root consists of three consonants that form the core meaning. The Semitic root written left to right is r-y-m, and this is the key to unlocking the meaning of the name. It’s important to note that there may be some divergences from one Semitic language to another, so, for the sake of this project, the Semitic roots are based on Gəʽəz.

The root of what is said to be the first part of the possible compound:

The biliteral noun ‘ራማ (rämä)‘ means “elevated place, the third heaven, heavenly kingdom“³ (Leslau, 1989). There are also entries for the noun, ‘አርያም (äryam),’ meaning “heights, the high, the highest, highest heaven, kind of zema-chat” and the adjective, ‘አርያማዊ (äryamawi),’ meaning “lofty, celestial, sublime,” indicating the possible existence of a root verb “ረ-የ-መ ” which could, in essence, mean “sublime [verb], celestialize” or “divinify.”

What is said to be the second part of the possible compound:

While there is no listed etymological root for “Yah” – which is said to, possibly, be the Hebrew short form for “Yahweh” – in Gəʿəz, either:
‘Yah’ is borrowed from the Hebrew name for God, YHWH (Yahweh) or;
It’s a grammatical function that translates differently between the two languages.