SHEMLON
| Lehite GN | Land, ca. 178 BC (Mosiah 10:7; Alma 23:12) |
As has been pointed out (JH), the ending -ōn is a good form for a GN. Unfortunately, no Semitic root šml exists to supply the meaning. Therefore, one is tempted to see here a lost root (JAT), perhaps attested in the Ugaritic PN bn šml, meaning unknown (JH). Another possibility for the lost root might be the unattested śml from Hebrew śimlāh, “cloak,” hence the suggestion for Shemlon “covered place” (JH).
It may be possible to postulate a no longer extant 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).
Other suggestions seem unlikely for various reasons. The combination of Hebrew šēm, “name,” and mālôn, “lodging-place,” would require a vowel between the m and the l. It would be more logical to eliminate the preformative ma, the marker of “place,” and see the second element as simply lôn, “resting, lodging.” But even this does not make a plausible GN. Hebrew šemoʾl, “left, on the left hand, hence, north” (RFS) would be a suitable etymology if, e.g., Shemlon were to the north of the city of Nephi (JAT). But this root also fails to qualify because the hypothetical *šmʾln would require in any Semitic language a vowel to break up the consonant cluster -mʾl- and the English transliteration clearly does not have a vowel between the m and the l.
Until r/l interchanges can be documented between Hebrew and Lehite (such as between Spanish and Portuguese), it seems unlikely that Shemlon is a corruption of or equivalent to biblical Shimron (JH).
