JERSHON

Lehite GN

1.

Land east of River SIDON and ZARAHEMLA, on Lamanite border, given to AMMONITES by Nephites, ca. 78 BC (Alma 27:22; 43:25)

Probably from Hebrew yrš, “to inherit,” with nominalizing ending -ōn (on which see the biblical PNs Gideon, etc.), yielding the GN yeršōn, “place of inheritance” (JAT, RFS, JH, and more recently, Ricks/Tvedtnes with ample commentary and notes). Alma 27:22 reads in part, “we will give up the land of Jershon . . . and this land Jershon is the land which we will give unto our brethren for an inheritance,” and thus appears to be a wordplay, perhaps even implying metonymy (RFS). Compare the biblical feminine PN yerušah, Jerushah, “inheritance.” One of the Hebrew words for “inheritance” is yerešah, which is close to Book of Mormon Jershon (JAT). Note the PNs yrt, “heir,” and iarišunu from Ugarit (JH).

The name also appears in Abraham 2:16–17 (RFS). It has been suggested in a footnote in the 1981 edition of the Pearl of Great Price that this may have been the site of Jerash in Jordan, above Wadi Zerqa (biblical Jabbok). Because the Arabic is jeraš, however, we would expect a Hebrew root grs. The confusion comes because the letter j in the English scriptures (at least KJV) nearly always stands for Hebrew y, not g; whereas the Arabic j corresponds with Hebrew g and therefore in the KJV as g. Therefore, Jershon in the Book of Abraham is most likely not etymologically related to Jerash. It is more likely that the name derives from the same root as the Book of Mormon name, yielding a nice play on words (like the Book of Alma text), for Haran means “caravan,” while Jershon means “place of inheritance,” thus contrasting the nomadic and sedentary patterns of living which took place after Abraham’s descendants inherited the land of Canaan (JAT). Already Reynolds, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, VII, p. 379; and Story of the Book of Mormon, p. 298, suggested, “Land of the expelled or the strangers,” but without an etymology.

Much less likely is a derivation from grš, “to expel, drive out,” or from gēr, “stranger, sojourner” and šām, “there,” along the lines of the biblical PN geršôm, so named because he had been a stranger in a strange land (Exodus 2:22; see also Judges 18:30 and Ezra 8:2) (RFS). As the transcription in the KJV demonstrates, a Hebrew g is normally transliterated into English as a g, not the j of Jershon. Therefore, “inheritance” is a much better translation.

See also Jershon Variant