Book of Mormon/Language/Names

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    Book of Mormon Names

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Names

Many Book of Mormon names have authentic connections to the Old World. (Click here for full article)

• Abish—
  Brief Summary: "Abish corresponds to the Hebrew name 'bš', found on a seal from pre-exilic times (prior to 587 BC) in the Hecht Museum in Haifa.19 The addition of the Hebrew letter aleph (symbolized by ' in transliteration) to the end of the name is known from other Hebrew hypocoristic names, suggesting that the name on the seal may be hypocoristic." (Click here for full article)
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• Aha—
  Brief Summary: "Aha (OW), a name of the first Pharaoh; it means "warrior" and is a common word."
• "Hugh Nibley proposed that the name was of Egyptian origin meaning "warrior". But the name is now attested in several early inscriptions as Hebrew 'h', thought by scholars to have been vocalized 'Aha' and to be a hypocoristic name based on 'ah, "brother". The longer form, rendered Ahijah in the King James Bible, is 'ahîyah(û), which means "brother of Yah (Jehovah)" or "Yah is my brother",21 which is also attested in a dozen ancient Hebrew inscriptions." (Click here for full article)
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• Alma—
  Brief Summary: "Alma is supposed to be a prophet of God and of Jewish ancestry in the Book of Mormon. In Hebrew Alma means a betrothed virgin maiden-hardly a fitting name for a man." - "Dr." Walter Martin, The Maze of Mormonism (Santa Ana, California: Vision House, 1978), 327. However, despite claims into the 1980s by anti-Mormon critics, the name "Alma" has been known since the 1960s as a male Hebrew name. It occurs in contexts from 2200 B.C. to the second century B.C. (Click here for full article)
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• Ammon—
  Brief Summary: "Ammon (Amon, Amun) (OW), the commonest name in the Egyptian Empire: the great universal God of the Empire." (Click here for full article)
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• Ammonihah—
  Brief Summary: "Ammoni-hah (BM), name of a country and city. [compare with] Ammuni-ra (OW), prince of Beyrut under Egyptian rule. The above might stand the same relationship to this name as Khamuni-ra (OW), Amarna personal name, perhaps equivalent of Ammuni-ra.""The name is attested on two Hebrew seals, one known to date to the seventh century BC, in the forms ‘mnyhw and ‘mnwyhw." (Click here for full article)
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• Chemish—
  Brief Summary: "His name is apparently related to that of the Ammonite god Chemosh, spelled Kmš in prevocalic Hebrew and Ammonite (related languages). A number of names containing the element Kmš are known, in which it is clear that the divine name was meant.33 Also known is a seal currently in the Israel Museum that has Kmš as the name of a man or woman." (Click here for full article)
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• Com (Click here for full article)
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• Coriantumr (Click here for full article)
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• Corihor—
  Brief Summary: See "Korihor". (Click here for full article)
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• Cumenihah (Click here for full article)
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• Cumorah (Click here for full article)
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• Hagoth—
  Brief Summary: "One Book of Mormon critic argued that Joseph Smith derived the name Hagoth from the name of the biblical prophet Haggai. Indeed, the names may be related, but a closer parallel is the biblical Haggith (see 2 Samuel 3:4; 1 Kings 1:5, etc.), which may have been vocalized Hagoth anciently. All three names derive from a root referring to a pilgrimage to attend religious festivals. The name Hagoth is attested in the form Hgt on an Ammonite seal inscribed sometime in the eighth through the sixth centuries BC36 (The Ammonites, neighbors of the Israelites and descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot, wrote and spoke the same language as the Israelites.)" (Click here for full article)
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• Helaman—
  Brief Summary: "Helaman (BM), great Nephite prophet. [compare with] Her-amon (OW), "in the presence of Amon," as in the Egyptian proper name Heri-i-her-imn. Semitic "l" is always written "r" in Egyptian, which has no "l." Conversely, the Egyptian "r" is often written "l" in Semitic languages. (Click here for full article)
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• Hem—
  Brief Summary: "Hem (BM), brother of the earlier Ammon." "Hem (OW), means "servant," specifically of Ammon, as in the title Hem tp n 'Imn, "chief servant of Ammon" held by the high priest of Thebes." (Click here for full article)
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• Himni—
  Brief Summary: "Himni (BM), a son of King Mosiah. Hmn (OW), a name of the Egyptian hawk-god, symbol of the emperor.""...the name Himni is clearly Hebrew and is represented by the unvocalized form, Hmn on two Israelite seals. The first, from the eighth century BC, was found at Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley. The other is from the first half of the seventh century BC." (Click here for full article)
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• Isabel—
  Brief Summary: "Isabel was a harlot in the land of Siron, on the border between the Lamanites and the Zoramites (see Alma 39:3). LDS scholars have generally assumed that the name is identical to that of the Old Testament Jezebel, the Hebrew form of which was 'ÃŽzebel, and this is probably correct. But the spelling Yzbl is now attested on a seal in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem that is thought to be Phoenician in origin." (Click here for full article)
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• Irreantum (Click here for full article)
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• Jarrom—
  Brief Summary: "One might wish to compare Jarom with the biblical name Jehoram, which is found twenty-one times in the Bible, while its hypocoristic form Joram occurs twenty-four times. But several Hebrew inscriptions bear the name Yrm, which scholars consider to be the hypocoristic form of Yrmyh(w), Jeremiah, whose name means "Yah (Jehovah) exalts." Yrm is found in four Hebrew inscriptions, including a seal of the seventh century BC, found in Egypt, and three items from the time of Lehi: a jug inscription from Tel esh-Shari‘ah, and an ostracon and bulla in the Moussaieff collection." (Click here for full article)
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• Jershon—
  Brief Summary: Matthew Roper: "The Book of Mormon name Jershon can be traced to a Hebrew root meaning 'to inherit.' In the Book of Mormon we read 'Behold, we will give up the land of Jershon, which is on the east by the sea…and this land of Jershon is the land which we will give unto our brethren for an inheritance' (Alma 27:22)." (Click here for full article)
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• Josh—
  Brief Summary: "Josh was the name of a city destroyed at the time of Christ's crucifixion (see 3 Nephi 9:10) and of a Nephite military leader who died in the great battle at Cumorah (see Mormon 6:14). Critics have suggested that this is merely the American diminutive for the name Joshua. But a number of Hebrew inscriptions bear the name Y'š, probably vocalized Yô'š, which Israeli scholars have acknowledged to be hypocoristic for the biblical name Y'šyhw, Josiah, in whose reign Jeremiah began his prophetic mission (see Jeremiah 1:2; 27:1).43 The name appears in three of the Lachish letters (2, 3, and 6) from the time of Lehi.44 It is also the name of four persons named in the fifth-century BC Jewish Aramaic papyri from Elephantine, Egypt. Four of the bullae found near Tel Beit Mirsim and dating from ca. 600 BC bear the name Y'š. Three of them were made from the same seal. (Click here for full article)
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• Kim (Click here for full article)
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• Korihor—
  Brief Summary: "Korihor (BM), a political agitator who was seized by the people of Ammon. Kherihor (also written Khurhor, etc.) (OW), great high priest of Ammon who seized the throne of Egypt at Thebes, cir. 1085 B.C."The twenty-first [Egyptian] dynasty was founded by a person called Korihor whose son was Piankhi. That's a very funny name; you don't invent a thing like that. It wasn't discovered until the 1870s that Piankhi is a name that we have in the Book of Mormon. Korihor was a priest of Amon who usurped the power of the state. His son Piankhi became king. (Click here for full article)
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• Lachoneus—
  Brief Summary: Wrote Hugh Nibley of this Old World name: "The occurrence of the names Timothy and Lachoneus in the Book of Mormon is strictly in order, however odd it may seem at first glance. Since the fourteenth century B.C. at latest, Syria and Palestine had been in constant contact with the Aegean world, and since the middle of the seventh century Greek mercenaries and merchants, closely bound to Egyptian interests (the best Egyptian mercenaries were Greeks), swarmed throughout the Near East. Lehi's people...could not have avoided considerable contact with these people in Egypt and especially in Sidon, which Greek poets even in that day were celebrating as the great world center of trade. It is interesting to note in passing that Timothy is an Ionian name, since the Greeks in Palestine were Ionians (hence the Hebrew name for Greeks: "Sons of Javanim"), and—since "Lachoneus" means "a Laconian"—that the oldest Greek traders were Laconians, who had colonies in Cyprus (BM Akish) and of course traded with PalestineLehi or Mulek's group would have then known—or even contained—people named "Lachoneus," a proper Greek name of the proper sort in the proper timeframe. (Click here for full article)
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• Lehi—
  Brief Summary: two different twentieth-century archaeological finds from Palestine attest to the term lḥy as a male personal name. One inscription is on a papyrus fragment found in 1962 among the Samaria Papyri of the Wadi el-Daliyeh; it preserves lḥy as the main element of a compound name. The other inscription in which lḥy stands alone as a personal name appears on an ostracon (an inscribed ceramic sherd) found in 1939 at Tell el-Kheleifeh (ancient Elath) on the shore of the Red Sea. (Click here for full article)
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• Sariah (Click here for full article)
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• Liahona—
  Brief Summary: literally, "to Yahweh is the whither" or, by interpretation, "direction of-to the Lord." (Click here for full article)
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• Limhah (Click here for full article)
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• Luram (Click here for full article)
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• Manti—
  Brief Summary: "Manti (BM), the name of a Nephite soldier, a land, a city, and a hill. Manti (OW), Semitic form of an Egyptian proper name, e.g., Manti-mankhi, a prince in Upper Egypt cir. 650 B.C. It is a late form of Month, god of Hermonthis." (Click here for full article)
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• Mathoni—
  Brief Summary: "The Hebrew name Mtnyhw appears on a seventh- century BC wine decanter, on six seals, and on seven bullae, most of them from the time of Lehi. The hypocoristic Mtn, which could be vocalized either Mattan (as in the Bible) or Mathoni (as in the Book of Mormon), is found on Ostracon 1682/2 from Khirbet el-Meshash (second half of the seventh century BC), seven seals (most from the seventh century BC), and eleven bullae (most from the time of Lehi)." (Click here for full article)
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• Mathonihah (Click here for full article)
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• Moronihah (Click here for full article)
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• Mosiah (Click here for full article)
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• Mulek (Click here for full article)
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• Muloki—
  Brief Summary: "Muloki was one of the men who accompanied the sons of Mosiah on their mission to the Lamanites (see Alma 20:2; 21:11). His name suggests that he may have been a Mulekite. Also from the same root are names such as Mulek and Melek, which is the Hebrew word meaning "king". Mulek is hypocoristic for Hebrew Mlkyh(w) (KJV Melchiah and Malchiah), which is attested both in the Bible (see 1 Chronicles 6:40; Ezra 10:25, 3; Nehemiah 3:14, 31; 8:4; 11:12; Jeremiah 21:1; 38:1, 6) and in numerous ancient inscriptions, most of them from the time of Lehi. Indeed, it has been suggested that one of the men bearing this name is the Mulek of the Book of Mormon. He is called "Malchiah the son of Hammelech," which means "Malchiah, son of the king" (see Jeremiah 38:6).
  Muloki corresponds to the name Mlky on a bulla found in the City of David (Jerusalem) and dating from the time of Lehi." (Click here for full article)
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• Nahom—
  Brief Summary: Nephi's party reaches an area "which was called Nahom" (1 Nephi 16:34) near the time that they make an eastward turn in their journey. NHM [the root for naham] appears twenty-five times in the narrative books of the Bible, and in every case it is associated with death. Strikingly, altars dating from the time of Lehi have been found with the inscription "NHM." As one travels south-southeast of Jerusalem along the major trunk of the ancient Arabian trade route, the route branches east toward the southeastern coast at only one point: in the Jawf valley (Wadi Jawf) just a few miles from Nehem. From thence the eastern branch of the trade route goes toward the ancient port of Qana--modern Bir Ali—on the Hadhramaut coast, where most of the incense was shipped. This eastern branch was the major route—the pathways to the south were less used. (Click here for full article)
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• Nephi—
  Brief Summary: "Nephi (BM), founder of the Nephite nation. Nehi, Nehri (OW), famous Egyptian noblemen. Nfy was the name of an Egyptian captain. Since BM insists on "ph," Nephi is closer to Nihpi, original name of the god Pa-nepi, which may even have been Nephi." (Click here for full article)
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• Nephihah (Click here for full article)
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• Onihah (Click here for full article)
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• Paanchi—
  Brief Summary: "Paanchi (BM), son of Pahoran, Sr., and pretender to the chief-judgeship. Paanchi (OW), son of Kherihor, a) chief high priest of Amon, b) ruler of the south who conquered all of Egypt and was high priest of Amon at Thebes." (Click here for full article)
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• Pahoran—
  Brief Summary: Pahoran (BM), a) great chief judge, b) son of the same. Pa-her-an (OW), ambassador of Egypt in Palestine, where his name has the "reformed" reading Pahura; in Egyptian as Pa-her-y it means "the Syrian" or Asiatic." (Click here for full article)
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• Pacumeni—
  Brief Summary: "Pacumeni (BM), son of Pahoran. Pakamen (OW), Egyptian proper name meaning "blind man"; also Pamenches (Gk. Pachomios), commander of the south and high priest of Horus." (Click here for full article)
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• Pachus—
  Brief Summary: "Pachus (BM), revolutionary leader and usurper of the throne. Pa-ks and Pach-qs (OW), Egyptian proper name. Compare Pa-ches-i, "he is praised."" (Click here for full article)
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• Rameumptom—
  Brief Summary: While many words and names found in the Book of Mormon have exact equivalents in the Hebrew Bible, certain others exhibit Semitic characteristics, though their spelling does not always match known Hebrew forms. For example, "Rabbanah" as "great king" (Alma 18:13) may have affinities with the Hebrew root /rbb/, meaning "to be great or many." "Rameumptom" (Alma 31:21), meaning "holy stand," contains consonantal patterns suggesting the stems /rmm/ramah/, "to be high," and /tmm/tam/tom/, "to be complete, perfect, holy. (Click here for full article)
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• Rabbanah—
  Brief Summary: While many words and names found in the Book of Mormon have exact equivalents in the Hebrew Bible, certain others exhibit Semitic characteristics, though their spelling does not always match known Hebrew forms. For example, "Rabbanah" as "great king" (Alma 18:13) may have affinities with the Hebrew root /rbb/, meaning "to be great or many." "Rameumptom" (Alma 31:21), meaning "holy stand," contains consonantal patterns suggesting the stems /rmm/ramah/, "to be high," and /tmm/tam/tom/, "to be complete, perfect, holy. (Click here for full article)
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• Sam—
  Brief Summary: "While Sam is a perfectly good Egyptian name, it is also the normal Arabic form of Shem, the son of Noah." "Sam (BM), brother of Nephi. Sam Tawi (OW), Egyptian "uniter of the lands," title taken by the brother of Nehri upon mounting the throne." (Click here for full article)
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• Sheum (Click here for full article)
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• Shilum (Click here for full article)
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• Timothy—
  Brief Summary: [R]emember...that in Lehi's day Palestine was swarming with Greeks, important Greeks. Remember, it was Egyptian territory [prior to being seized by Babylon] at that time and Egyptian culture. The Egyptian army, Necho's army, was almost entirely Greek mercenaries. We have inscriptions from that very time up the Nile at Aswan-inscriptions from the mercenaries of the Egyptian army, and they're all in Greek. So Greek was very common, and especially the name Timotheus. (Click here for full article)
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• Zarahemla (Click here for full article)
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• Zemnarihah (Click here for full article)
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• Zenoch—
  Brief Summary: "Zenoch (BM), according to various Nephite writers, an ancient Hebrew prophet. Zenekh (OW), Egyptian proper name; once a serpent-god." (Click here for full article)
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• Zeezrom (Click here for full article)
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