Aalma ech Chaab (علما الشعب) is a village in the
Tyre District
The Tyre District is a district in the South Governorate of Lebanon.
History Ancient history
Founded at the start of the third millennium BC, Tyre originally consisted of a mainland settlement and a modest island city that lay a short distance o ...
, in Southern
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
.
Name
According to
E. H. Palmer, ’Alma means "a coat of mail"; while Shảub means "mountain spurs".
According to Dr. Anis Freyha in his book " A Dictionary of the Names of Towns and Villages in Lebanon" 2nd edition 1985, page 117, he mentions that the root of the name is Semitic (עלם) and could mean "the hidden" or sexual maturity, the same in Phoenicians and Aramaic.
History
In 1875, during the late
Ottoman era,
Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...
found here a village with 350 inhabitants, mostly Greek Orthodox, or
Maronite.
In 1881, the
PEF's
''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it: “A large Christian village, containing about 500 inhabitants. The houses are clean and well built. There are two chapels, and the place seems increasing in size. It is situated on a ridge, with figs, olives, and pomegranates and arable land around.
To the east and north the land is covered with brushwood. There is a spring within reach, and about thirty rock-cut
cisterns in the village.”
Modern era
In 2009, there were 400 members of the
Saint-Élie
Saint-Élie is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France in South America. In 1930, Saint-Élie became capital of the Inini territory. From 1953 onward, the commune was called Centre. In 1969, it was renamed to Sai ...
parish of the
Melkite Church
The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic root ''m-l-k'', meaning "royal", a ...
in the village.
References
Bibliography
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*
*
External links
Aalma ech Chaab Localiban
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 3
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Authority control
Populated places in the Israeli security zone 1985–2000
Populated places in Tyre District