SHEMLON

Lehite GN

1.

Land, ca. 178 BC (Mosiah 10:7; Alma 23:12)

SHEMLON could be derived from the Hebrew personal name Samlah ([Genesis 36:36]) or the Hebrew word for “cloak,” “clothing,” “garment,” etc. (śimlāh), both are derived from the otherwise unattested Hebrew root śml. The ending -ōn is quite common in Hebrew on geograhic names. Therefore, it is possible that SHEMLON means “covered place” (JH), or “place of the cloak” (PYH).

Though unattested in North-west Semitic, it may be possible to postulate a Hebrew root *šml from Arabic *samala, “to scoop/gouge/tear out.” The name would be appropriate if the city were located in a depression. We are reminded that in several Book of Mormon passages, inhabitants of the city of NEPHI were able, from a tower near the temple, to see the LAMANITES coming against them from the direction of the city of SHEMLON. This may indicate a lower elevation for SHEMLON (JAT).

SHEMLON may be composed of Hebrew šēm, “name,” and lyn/lwn, “to rest,” “to lodge,” “to spend the night.” The resulting noun chain, *šēmlôn, might mean, “name of the dwelling.” Hebrew šēm and mālôn, “lodging-place,” would require a vowel between the m and the l, e.g., *šēmālôn , but the Book of Mormon spelling does not have the called-for vowel.

Less likely is a derivation from Hebrew śemoʾl, “left, on the left hand,” hence, “north” (RFS), plus the ending -ōn. Though this derivation might provide a plausible meaning, such a reading presents difficulties. śemoʾl plus -ōn would yield śemoʾlōn, which has a vowel between the /m/ and the /’/. This vowel is necessary in order to break up the consonant cluster -mʾl-. But SHEMLON clearly does not have a vowel anywhere between the /m/, the /’/ or the /l/. Therefore, an etymology from śemoʾl plus -ōn does not seem likely. The fact that Palmyrenean, a North-west Semitic language related to Hebrew, does not represent orthographically the aleph is probably not relevant.

Until r/l interchanges can be documented between Hebrew and Lehite (such as between Hebrew and EGYPTIAN, and between Spanish and Portuguese), it seems unlikely that SHEMLON is a corruption of or equivalent to biblical Shimron (JH). A derivation from North-west Semitic sml meaning “statue” or “image” is probably not possible. The /s/ (Hebrew samekh) seldom changes into /š/, as SHEMLON would require.

Cf. Book of Mormon SHEM, SHEMNON, SHIM, SHIMNILOM