yelion
עליונ
The typical interpretation of 'yelion' (often pronounced “elyon”) is that it is an adjective meaning “highest”, “uppermost”, or “most high”. This interpretation appears to be mainly correct. A more dubious interpretation is often proposed to indicate a sort of “ruling class” of angels or heavenly beings.
Etymologically, it is built on the root word, yel
- the best place to start analyzing this is Genesis 14
this word also plays a pivotal role in Psalms 82:6 which is typically interpreted as “I have said you are all gods and children of the Most High”
Although the word appears to be cognate with “lion” (the king of beasts and therefore uppermost of animals), there are several consistency issues around the Hebrew nomenclature for lions.
LexID 5945