AMMON

AMMON

Mulekite PN	1.	Explorer, ca. 121 BC (Mosiah 7:3; 22:11)
Lehite PN	2.	Son of Mosiah II, ca. 91 BC (Mosiah 27:34, Ether 12:15)
	3.	“people of Ammon”, Nephite term designating converts of No. 2 (also “Ammonites”, q.v.), also called the people of “Anti-Nephi-Lehi” (q.v.), ca. 90–77 BC (Alma 27:26; Helaman 3:12)
Biblical gentilic	4.	People (“children of”) descended from Lot (2 Nephi 21:14)
	5.	City of, near AMMONIHAH, NEPHIHAH, and MORONI (Alma 8:13–14, 50:14)

The name could be a hypocoristicon based on ʿmm, a common Semitic kinship term meaning variously “people, clan, paternal uncle, grandfather” (KB, 710) appearing in several biblical PNs, e.g., Ammiel, Ammihud, Amram, and Amraphel, plus the hypocoristic ending -on (IPN, p. 38* Is this really so?), such as the biblical PNs Amnon and Sampson or the West Semitic PN * ŝšamaʿ-on (WSPN, p. 35).

It is also possible that Ammon is derived from the Hebrew root ʾmn, meaning “master workman; architect; firmness, faithfulness” (BDB and KB; see Proverbs 8:30). But this etymology does not account for the doubling of the m. As a hypocoristicon the name could mean “[my god is] faithfulness.” See the biblical PN Amon, carried by a Judean king (2 Kings 21 passim, etc.) (JAT and RFS). Compare from the same root the Amorite PN a-ma-nu-um etc. (CAAA, p. 235).

It is doubtful that Lehites or Mulekites would carry a name derived from the biblical PN ʿmmwn, Ammon, who was the eponymous ancestor of the Ammonites, enemies of the Israelites.

It seems to me that an etymology based on the name of an Egyptian god is highly unlikely. Nevertheless, Nibley has suggested connecting Ammon and other Book of Mormon names with Egyptian imn (LID 27, ABM 235).

Very questionable is the suggestion by Reynolds that Ammon means “Worker of Jehovah” (CBM VII, 380).

Notes The biblical gentilic Ammon is related by Genesis 19:38 to the root ʿmm. Thus, though the Book of Mormon name probably does not derive from the gentilic, etymologically the two are related (JAT, RFS).

Egyptian imn, originally from southern Egypt, is the most common name of the later Egyptian Empire. Nibley notes also that Ammon is the most common name in the Egyptian Empire and in the Book of Mormon. (discount!!!!) (HWN) Nibley sees this name in other Book of Mormon names, i.e., Aminadab, Aminadi, Amminihu (Amnihu), Amnor, Helamon (Helaman), etc. Nibley’s connection of Ammon to Hem is perhaps his best evidence that this is the correct etymology. In Egypt, the high priest of Ammon was called ntr h.m tp, “chief servant of the God,” while in the Book of Mormon, the name of the earlier Ammon is Hem, hence “servant” in Egyptian. Were this a single occurrence, we might ignore it, but Nibley has shown connections between other such pairs of names in Egypt and the Book of Mormon. Egyptian imn (variously transliterated Amun, Amen, Amon, Ammon; Greek 'ammôn’, Coptic amoun) is the name of the chief god of Thebes, capital of Upper Egypt. It has been pointed out, in this connection, that the Lamanite king Lamoni thought Ammon to be the “Great Spirit.” The name comes from the root mn or imn, “establish, make firm; be firm, remain; eternal.” Egyptian imn also means “right, west, westward,” and refers to the kingdom of the dead (imn.t, imny.t, Coptic emnt, amnte, etc.), which can be compared with Hebrew ymyn, “right, right hand, south, southward” (RFS).

Cf. Book of Mormon Ammonihah

Once separate entry that seemed to fit under AMMON: