1. chief, clan leader — A tribal chief or clan leader, especially of Edomite clans. Denominative from אֶלֶף II ('clan, thousand'). Used almost exclusively in the genealogical lists of Esau's descendants in Genesis 36 (vv. 15-43) and the parallel in 1 Chronicles 1:51-54, where it designates the heads of Edomite sub-clans: 'chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho' etc. Also appears in Zechariah 9:7 and 12:5-6 for chiefs/clans of Judah. The construct plural אַלּוּפֵי ('chiefs of'), the suffixed forms אַלּוּפֵיהֶם ('their chiefs'), and the comparative כְּאַלּוּף ('like a chief,' Zech 9:7) are all inflectional variants of the same noun. Multilingual glosses consistently render as chief/leader (arb: أَمِير, deu: Hauptling, fra: chef, hin: सरदार). 60×
AR["أَمِيرُ"]·ben["সর্দার"]·DE["Häuptling","Häuptling-"]·EN["chief"]·FR["chef"]·heb["אלוף"]·HI["सरदार","सरदार-"]·ID["kepala"]·IT["capo"]·jav["Kepala-suku","Kepala-suku-","kepala-suku"]·KO["족장"]·PT["chefe"]·RU["старейшина","старейшина-"]·ES["jefe","jefe-"]·SW["wakubwa"]·TR["Bey","Bey-","bey"]·urd["سردار"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
II. אַלּוּף n.m. 1 Ch 1:51 chief, chiliarch (denom. from ii. אֶלָף v. Di Gn 36:15)—א׳ abs. Gn 36:15 +; pl. cstr. אַלּוּפֵי (אַלֻּפֵי) Ex 15:15 +; sf. אַלּוּפֵיהֶם Gn 36:19, 30—chief (tribal) of Edom Gn 36:15 (5 times) + 38 times Gn 36 (P); Ex 15:15 (E) 1 Ch 1:51 (4 times) + 9 times; of Judah Zc 12:5, 6; so אַלֻּף 9:7 (in sim.)