Tehillim is plural of Tehilla (תהלה). Tehilla looks like a feminine noun, which is why there's a word called תהלות.
So why is the sefer called Sefer Tehillim?
asked Oct 2, 2015 at 21:50
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Hebrew not Judaism?– andrewmh20Oct 3, 2015 at 21:56
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1Note that it is sometimes called "T'hilos".– msh210 ♦Oct 4, 2015 at 1:08
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1@NoachmiFrankfurt it's not a word in Tanach, it's just about grammar relating to our name for a book of Tanach.– andrewmh20Oct 4, 2015 at 7:51
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1@andrewmh20, yes, it's "about grammar relating to our name for a book of Tanach", which makes it about "language used in Judaism" and puts it squarely within our scope.– msh210 ♦Oct 4, 2015 at 18:45
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4Ibn Ezra and Malbim, both grammarians, called it ספר תהילות– Yosef WeinerOct 19, 2015 at 20:12
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1 Answer
It’s basically chazal’s version of The Praises. It is a way to distinguish it from random praises. It is a formal noun. Another example is that Teffilin is called teffilin to make it a formal noun, and to distinguish it from tefillot.
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1Welcome to Mi Yodeya, where we value sourced answers. (After all, nobody knows who I am, so nobody has any reason to trust what I say unless I support it.) Specifically, this claim is interesting and seems somewhat plausible, but do you have any source or argument in its support? In any event, I hope you stick around and enjoy the site, including its 222 other grammar-dikduk questions. Please consider registering your account, to enable more site features.– msh210 ♦Jan 27, 2016 at 16:44