Tzion
/tsiˈoʊn/noun
A transliteration of Zion, the biblical name for a hill or fortified area in Jerusalem that later became a symbol of Jerusalem, the Jewish people, and an ideal sacred homeland.
Did you know?The original meaning of the Hebrew name Ṣiyyōn is uncertain; later Jewish and Christian traditions transformed it from a Jerusalem place-name into a symbol of divine presence and an ideal sacred realm.
Etymological Timeline
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
צִיּוֹן (Ṣiyyōn)
“A name for a hill or fortified area in Jerusalem; its original meaning is uncertain.”
3rd–2nd Century BCE
Greek
Σιών (Siṓn)
“The Greek-script form of the Jerusalem place-name in the Septuagint.”
1st Century BCE–1st Century CE
Latin
Sion
“The Latin biblical form of the name.”
Old English
English
Sion
“The inherited biblical and religious form used in English texts.”
16th–17th Century
English
Zion
“The standard English spelling, increasingly used both for Jerusalem and as a symbol of a sacred or ideal homeland.”
Modern English
English
Tzion
“A modern transliteration intended to represent the Hebrew pronunciation and the Hebrew letter צ (tsade) more closely.”