ארחא

From Proto-Semitic *ʔurḫ-. Akin to Old Aramaic 𐤀𐤓𐤇𐤀 (ʾrḥʾ), Jewish Babylonian Aramaic אוֹרְחָא (ʔorḥā), Classical Syriac ܐܘܼܪܚܵܐ (ʾurḥā), Nabataean Aramaic 𐢁𐢛𐢊𐢀 (ʾrḥʾ), Christian Palestinian Aramaic ܐܘܪܚܐ, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic ארחה, Classical Mandaic ࡏࡅࡄࡓࡀ (ʿuhra).

אֹרְחָא • (ʔorḥā) f (absolute state אֹרַח, plural אֹרְחָתָא)

1. (Biblical Aramaic, in the plural) ways (mode of being)
   • Tanach, Daniel 4:37, with translation of the King James Version:

     כְּעַן אֲנָה נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר מְשַׁבַּח וּמְרוֹמֵם וּמְהַדַּר לְמֶלֶךְ שְׁמַיָּא דִּי כָל־מַעֲבָדוֹהִי קְשֹׁט וְאֹרְחָתֵהּ דִּין וְדִי מַהְלְכִין בְּגֵוָה יָכִל לְהַשְׁפָּלָה׃

     kəʕan ʔănā nəḇūḵaḏnéṣar məšabbaḥ umrōmēm umhaddar ləméleḵ šəmayyā dī ḵol-maʕăḇāḏṓhī qəšoṭ wəʔorḥāṯēh dīn wəḏī mahləḵīn bəḡēwā yāḵil ləhašpālā

     Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

2. (Dead Sea Scrolls) road, way
   • 2nd C. BCE, Genesis Apocryphon, column 22, lines 4–5; edited and translated in Daniel A. Machiela, editor, The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon (Studies on the texts of the desert of Judah; 79), Brill Publishers, 2009, →ISBN, page 81:

     […] ודי נגדו מלכיא ארחא חלתא רבתא למדיתון ושבין ובזין ומחין וקטלין ואזלין למדינת דרמשק

     […] wəḏī nəḡíḏu malkayyā ʔorḥə ḥilləṯā rabbəṯā limḏittōn wəšāḇáyin uḇazzīn umāḥáyin wəqāṭəlīn wəʔāzəlīn limḏinaṯ Darméśeq

     […] and that the kings set out on the Way of the Great Valley towards their province, and that they were capturing, plundering, destroying and slaughtering, and that they were heading to the city of Damascus.

3. (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Jewish Literary Aramaic) defective spelling of אוֹרְחָא (ʔorḥā, “road”)

• “ˀwrḥ”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• H735 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible