AMMONIHAH

Lehite PN	1.	Chief Judge, ca. 82 BC (Alma 14:4) (Is this because he was the 1st inhabitant (Alma 8:7)? I couldn't find him named specifically, other than “chief judge”)
Lehite GN	2.	City and land, ca. 82 BC (Alma 8:6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 16, 18 (x2); 9: Preface, 1; 10:1; 14:23; 15:1, 15, 16; 16:2, 3, 9, 11; 25:2; 49:1, 3, 10, 11, 14, 15; Helaman 5:10)

Etymology

AMMONIHAH seems to be the Book of Mormon PN AMMON, with a medial prothestic shewa, plus the ending -hah, on the analogy of the personal names of the type NEPHIHAH NEPHI (see under “Studies, -hah”). See AMMON for the etymology from ʿmm, “people, clan, paternal uncle, grandfather.”

If the ending -ihah represents the tetragrammaton (PYH has argued against this representation in “Studies, -hah”), then other etymologies suggest themselves. The HEBREW root אמן ʾmn, meaning “firmness, faithfulness” (see AMMON), while it does not account for the doubling of the m, yields the meaning, “Yahwe is (my) faithfulness” (JH). Other translations based on this root include, “my creator is Yah” or “God is Yah” (RFS).

The Book of Mormon explicitly derives the GN from the PN: “It was the custom of the people of NEPHI to call their [settlements] after the name of him who first possessed them, and thus it was with the land of AMMONIHAH” (Alma 8:7).

It is possible but unlikely, that the first element “AMMON” represents the name of the EGYPTIAN deity of the same name. If this were the case, then the following etymologies are possible for this name. EGYPTIAN imn + ʿḥ3 (“fight”), “Amon of battle” (RFS). If this is the origin of AMMONIHAH, then Tvedtnes recommends translating “battle of Amon” or “Amon fights,” with the divine name having preference for the first position in the name (JAT). EGYPTIAN imn.*iḥḥ, “my Amon the eternal; God of eternity,” from Amon + nḥḥ, “many, great number, eternity” (RFS). EGYPTIAN imn.iha, “my Amon going forth” (RFS).

See Book of Mormon AMMON, AMMONIHAHITES, AMNIHU, OMNI, ANTIOMNO, RAMEUMPTOM, AHA, AHAH, NEPHIHAH, MORONIHAH, ONIHAH, Camenihah, MOSIAH, ORIHAH (RFS)

See also Ammonihah / Amonihah Variant

Variants

Ammonidah, Amonihah, Ammonihaih, Aminidas

Deseret Alphabet: 𐐈𐐣𐐊𐐤𐐌𐐐𐐂 (æmʌnaɪhɑː)

Notes

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