The name "Rameumptom" in the Book of Mormon

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

"Ramoth, high (as Ramoth Gilead), elevated, a place where one can see and be seen"

Rameumptom was the name given by the Zoramites to the elevated place in their synagogues whence they offered up their vain-glorious and hypocritical prayers. Alma states that the word means a holy stand. It resembles, in its roots, Hebrew and also Egyptian in a remarkable manner. Ramoth, high (as Ramoth Gilead), elevated, a place where one can see and be seen; or, in a figurative sense, sublime or exalted. Mptom has probably its roots in the Hebrew word translated threshold, as we are told that the Philistines' god, Dagon, has a threshold in Ashdod (See 1 Samuel 5:4-5). Words with this root are quite common in the Bible. Thus we see how Rameumptom means a high place to stand upon, a holy stand.^[1]

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.^[2]

Notes

1. ↑ George Reynolds and Janne Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1959), 4:80. AISN B000ESAPTO.
2. ↑ Brian D. Stubbs, "Book of Mormon Language," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1:181.