SHIBLOM

Jaredite PN	1.	JAREDITE king and son of COM (Ether 11:4 (x3), 5, 7, 9)
Lehite PN	2.	General, 4th c. AD (Mormon 6:14)

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.

This is one of many JAREDITE names that seem to have come into Lehite. See also the similar PN SHIBLON. If this really is a JAREDITE name, then no etymology is suggested.

If Semitic can be appealed to for JAREDITE etymologies, then perhaps the biblical PN שובל šōbāl, Shobal in KJV(Genesis 36:20-29), should be considered for at least the first part of this name (JH). The root means "flowing." Can the -om come from ʿm, people?

There are other possibilities from the root שבל šbl, including *šōbel, “flowing skirt,” šibbolet, “ear of grain,” and šebīl, šebūl, “path,” should be considered (JH; see also Reynolds, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, IV, p. 282).

If r and l interchange in Lehite, maybe שבר šeber, “grain” (Genesis 42:26 has שברם šibrām, “their grain”) (RFS).

Less likely is a derivation from feline names, such as Arabic شبل šibl, “jaguar cub.” The same source would also have ALMA’s other son’s name, CORIANTON, related to HEBREW גור gûr, guryōn, “lion cub” (2 Kings 9:27; > Mishnaic Hebrew name Gurion). As for the NEPHITE currency named SHIBLON, the same source gives evidence that early weights used for exchange were in the shape of animals. He suggests that the jade jaguar figures found in Mesoamerica are related to or identical to the Book of Mormon SHIBLON (BU, NPSEHA 150.0 [Aug 1982]).