אִי
𐤀𐤉
ʼîy
H336 particle
SILEX Entry
Definition
A region or tract of land, especially an island or coastal landform, with primary lexical meaning as 'island' or 'coastland.' In biblical usage, it can denote a landmass surrounded by water—an island in the strict sense—but more frequently, especially in prophetic and poetic contexts, it refers to distant coastal regions, maritime lands, or foreign territories across the sea. The word includes both literal islands and metaphorically distant or remote peoples or places.
Semantic Range
island, coastland, maritime land, distant territory, peripheral nation
Root / Etymology
Root uncertain, but commonly associated with the root אוי (to howl, lament), though most modern scholarship treats it as either a loan or a non-Semitic term. Morphologically, it is distinct from אַי (ay) 'where?', though the two words share orthographic similarity. The development of the sense 'island' or 'coastland' is not directly explained by any obvious Hebrew verbal root.
Historical & Contextual Notes
אִי appears primarily in the poetic and prophetic books (notably Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) to reference maritime regions or distant lands—often the periphery of the known world from an Israelite perspective, e.g., the 'islands of the sea.' In these contexts, it serves as a descriptor for the nations or territories bordering the Mediterranean and sometimes more exotic, unknown places beyond. While standard English translations often use 'islands' or 'coastlands,' the semantic range can be broader, including any region reached by sea or perceived as remote. The term does not refer specifically to islands in the modern geographical sense, and should be distinguished from יַבָּשָׁה (dry land) and אֶרֶץ (land, earth), which have broader or different scopes. Over time, the interpretation of אִי in Jewish tradition occasionally incorporated the idea of far-flung nations more abstractly than strictly geographic locales. In later Hellenistic and Roman periods, these 'islands' or 'coastlands' could be seen as representing the 'gentile' world beyond the Israelite homeland.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
lemma אי missing vowel, corrected to אִי; probably identical with אַי (through the idea of a query); not; island (Job 22:30).
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
אי (ʾ-y) — coast, island, distant region
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H336-01 |
אִֽי | i | HTj |
one who is not | coastland | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H336-01 |
Job 22:30 | אִֽי | i | HTj |
one who is not | coastland |