The name "Abish" in the Book of Mormon

Parent page: Book of Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Names

The name Abish corresponds to the Hebrew name ʾbšʾ, found on a seal from pre-exilic times

Abish is the name of a Lamanite woman, a servant to king Lamoni's queen (see Alma 19:16). Abish corresponds to the Hebrew name ʾbšʾ, 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 ʾ 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. (See Hypocoristic Forms on page 50.) However, no etymology has been proposed. The form ʾbšʾ is also attested as a Semitic name on a wall relief in the tomb of Khnum-hotep III at Beni Hasan, Egypt, dating to the nineteenth century BC The relief depicts a group of Asiatics, probably Semites, entering Egypt with their donkeys. Scholars have often compared the scene to the emigration of Abraham and later his grandson Jacob into Egypt. W. F. Albright suggested reading the name as Abi-shar, but in view of the more recent evidence, this must now be abandoned.20^[1]

Notes

1. ↑ John A. Tvedtnes, John Gee, Matthew Roper, "Book of Mormon Names Attested in Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9/1 (2000): 40–51.