H8462 — תְּחִלָּה (tᵉchillâh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H8462
Original: תְּחִלָּה
Transliteration: tᵉchillâh
Pronunciation: tekh-il-law
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: חָלַל (châlal, H2490) — in the sense of "opening"; to begin (as if by an opening wedge)
Occurrences: 21 unique verses / 22 tokens across 13 books
First Occurrence: Gen 13:3 — "unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning (tᵉchillâh)"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H2490 in the sense of opening; a commencement; relatively original (adverb, -ly): begin(-ning), first (time).

The root H2490 (châlal) is a primitive root meaning "to bore, to open" — and by extension "to begin" (as if making an opening). The noun tᵉchillâh captures the concrete sense of "the starting point" of an event, period, or narrative sequence. Used adverbially with prepositions (בַּ, מִן, כַּ) to mean "at the beginning," "from the beginning," or "as at the beginning."

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
at the beginning	4	19.0%
in the beginning	4	19.0%
The beginning	2	9.5%
at the first	2	9.5%
at the first time	2	9.5%
first	2	9.5%
At the beginning	1	4.8%
as at the beginning	1	4.8%
from the beginning	1	4.8%
the beginning	1	4.8%
to begin	1	4.8%

Summary: Nearly all renderings involve "beginning" or "first" — the word consistently denotes a starting point in time. The KJV never translates it as "chief" or "head" (unlike rêʼshîyth or rōʼsh), keeping its semantic range narrow and temporal.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Daniel	3	0.8
Amos	1	0.7
Ecclesiastes	1	0.5
Hosea	1	0.5
2 Samuel	3	0.4
Ezra	1	0.4
Genesis	4	0.3
Judges	2	0.3
Nehemiah	1	0.2
2 Kings	1	0.1
Proverbs	1	0.1
Isaiah	1	0.1
Ruth	1	—

Pattern notes: Broadly distributed across narrative, prophetic, and wisdom genres with no single dominant book. Genesis has the highest raw count (4), while Daniel has the highest density (0.8 per 100 verses). The word appears in both early (Genesis, Judges, Ruth) and late (Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel) compositions, showing consistent usage across OT periods. Absent from the Psalms, Pentateuchal law codes, and the major prophets except Isaiah.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Beginning of a Place / Former Location¶

Marking the starting point of a journey or the original position of something. - Gen 13:3 — "unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai" - Gen 41:21 — "they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning" (reference to prior condition) - Gen 43:18 — "because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time" - Gen 43:20 — "we came indeed down at the first time to buy food"

2. Beginning of an Event or Military Campaign¶

The opening moment of a battle, conflict, or sequence of events. - Jdg 1:1 — "Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first?" - Jdg 20:18 — "Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin?" - 2 Sam 17:9 — "when some of them be overthrown at the first" - 2 Sam 21:9 — "in the beginning of barley harvest" - 2 Sam 21:10 — "from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them"

3. Beginning of a Reign, Period, or Season¶

Marking the start of a temporal era, reign, or agricultural season. - 2 Ki 17:25 — "at the beginning of their dwelling there" - Ezra 4:6 — "in the beginning of his reign" - Ruth 1:22 — "in the beginning of barley harvest" - Amos 7:1 — "in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth"

4. Beginning of Speech, Prophetic Word, or Wisdom¶

The opening point of divine communication or discourse. - Pro 9:10 — "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" - Ecc 10:13 — "The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness" - Hos 1:2 — "The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea"

5. Resumption / Restoration to a Former State¶

Looking back to an original condition with the aim of restoration. - Isa 1:26 — "I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellers as at the beginning"

6. Beginning of Visionary / Prayer Sequences (Daniel)¶

Temporal markers in prophetic-apocalyptic contexts. - Dan 8:1 — "a vision appeared unto me … after that which appeared unto me at the first" - Dan 9:21 — "the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning" - Dan 9:23 — "At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אַחַר (ʼachar)	H310	6x (29%)	"after that which appeared at the first" — temporal sequencing
אָמַר (ʼâmar)	H559	6x (29%)	"said … at the first" — speech introducing past events
יְהֹוָה (Yᵉhôvâh)	H3068	6x (29%)	"the word of the LORD … the beginning" — prophetic contexts
בּוֹא (bôwʼ)	H935	4x (19%)	"came … at the beginning" — arrival narratives
קָצִיר (qâtsîyr)	H7105	3x (14%)	"beginning of harvest" — agricultural temporal marker
שׁוּב (shûwb)	H7725	3x (14%)	"return … as at the beginning" — restoration formula
נָפַל (nâphal)	H5307	3x (14%)	"fall/overthrown at the first" — military contexts

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2490 חָלַל (châlal) — root verb: to bore, open; to begin; to profane; to play (flute). The "begin" sense (Hiphil) is the semantic parent of tᵉchillâh.

Semantic Domain: Begin¶

From search_relationships.py — domain [002003003005]: - H631 אָסַר (ʼasar) — bind, tie - H2490 חָלַל (châlal) — begin, profane (root verb) - H3246 יְסֻד (yᵉçud) — foundation, beginning - H6924 קֶדֶם (qedem) — east, ancient, former time - H7218 רֹאשׁ (rōʼsh) — head, chief, beginning, top - H7219 רֹאשׁ (rōʼsh) — gall, poison, venom (homonym)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
רֵאשִׁית (rêʼshîyth)	H7225	"in the beginning," "the beginning"	rêʼshîyth = absolute origin or first-in-rank (Gen 1:1 creation, firstfruits); tᵉchillâh = starting point of an event or sequence
רֹאשׁ (rōʼsh)	H7218	"the beginning," "first"	rōʼsh = head/top/chief with spatial and hierarchical connotations; tᵉchillâh = purely temporal onset
רִאשׁוֹן (riʼshôwn)	H7223	"at the first," "first," "at the beginning"	riʼshôwn = ordinal adjective "first (in a series)"; tᵉchillâh = the noun "beginning" (the starting point itself)

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
ἀρχή (archḗ) G746	16	6.79	Primary equivalent — temporal "beginning" sense
θερισμός (therismós) G2326	3	7.02	"harvest" — contextual rendering in harvest-beginning passages
κριθή (krithḗ) G2915	3	6.66	"barley" — contextual in "beginning of barley harvest"
ἔρχομαι (érchomai) G2064	3	2.12	Free rendering of arrival-at-beginning constructions

LXX bridge note: G746 archḗ is the dominant equivalent, capturing the temporal "beginning/commencement" sense. The other mappings (therismós, krithḗ) reflect contextual translation of the surrounding phrase rather than direct equivalence for tᵉchillâh itself.