Levi
/ˈliː.vaɪ/noun
A biblical Hebrew personal name, traditionally associated with Jacob’s third son and the Israelite priestly tribe descended from him.
Did you know?Genesis 29:34 connects Levi’s name with the Hebrew verb meaning “to join” or “attach,” presenting the name as a symbolic wordplay about family bonds.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*l-w-y
“A reconstructed root associated with joining or attaching”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
לֵוִי (Lēwī)
“Levi; traditionally interpreted as “joined” or “attached””
3rd–2nd Century BCE
Greek
Λευί (Leui)
“Levi, as recorded in the Greek Septuagint”
Late Antiquity
Latin
Levi
“Levi, preserved in biblical and Christian Latin”
Old English / Middle English
English
Levi
“The biblical personal name transmitted through religious texts”
Modern English
English
Levi
“A personal name, also referring to the biblical patriarch and the ancestor of the Levites”