HESHLON

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Jaredite GN 1. Plains north of DESOLATION, near the valley of GILGAL, where SHARED defeated CORIANTUMR in battle (Ether 13:28)

Etymology

Until possible language affinities for JAREDITE names can be determined, all suggestions for etymologies of JAREDITE names must remain more speculative than substantive. With that caveat, the onomasticon does offer etymologies for some JAREDITE names, especially if it is possible that some JAREDITE names were translated into NEPHITE, or were otherwise related to one or more Semitic languages.

If Jaredite names can have Nephite equivalents with Semitic roots, then HESHLON may be based on the Hebrew חשל ḥšl, “make weak, prostrate, weary, thin, crush,” with the place-name suffix -ōn as in the biblical PN Heshbon (1 Chronicles 6:18), hence “place of exhaustion; place of crushing,”(RFS)[1] with reference to the site of the battle between CORIANTUMR and SHARED (Ether 13:28) (JAT).[2]

Variants

Deseret Alphabet: 𐐐𐐇𐐟𐐢𐐊𐐤 (hɛʃlʌn)

Notes


  1. Wilhelm Borée, Die alten Ortsnamen Palästinas, 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1930; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1968), 57–62; Anson F. Rainey, "Toponymics of Eretz-Israel," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 231 (1978): 5, calls -ôn an "appellative" suffix that describes "some feature or aspect of the site." Wilhelm Borée, Die alten Ortsnamen Palästinas, 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1930; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1968), 57–62; Anson F. Rainey, "Toponymics of Eretz-Israel," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 231 (1978): 5, calls -ôn an "appellative" suffix that describes "some feature or aspect of the site."
  2. For a lengthy discussion of this name in its Book of Mormon context, see Matthew L. Bowen, “Place of Crushing: The Literary Function of Heshlon in Ether 13:25-31,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, 14 (2015): 227-239.
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