SEBUS
From Book of Mormon Onomasticon
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| Lehite GN | 1. | “waters of” (Alma 17:34, 18:7, 19:20, 21 (x2)), “water of” (17:26), “the place
of water” for the flocks of King LAMONI in the land of ISHMAEL (Alma 17:26-32) during the early 1st century B.C. |
Etymology
SEBUS may reflect a West Semitic root śbs “to gather, assemble (persons),” and could possibly mean “Place of Gathering” for SEBUS. The root appears as an Aramaic loan word in Neo-Babylonian texts as a verb (us-sa-ab-bi-is) and as an adjective (su-ub-bu-su-tu).[1] This same root may be reflected in the hapax legomenon śbs in Amos 5:11, where it apparently refers to the collecting of a grain payment.[2]
Less likely is an EGYPTIAN etymology from *š-bs, “lake of initiation” (RFS), because one would expect *Shebus, rather than Book of Mormon SEBUS.
Variants
Deseret Alphabet: 𐐝𐐀𐐒𐐊𐐝 (siːbʌs)
Notes
- ↑ Chicago Assyrian Dictionary S 341, at subbusu. See also Akkadisches Handwörterbuch 1053, where it is translated as “be heaped together, to get together.”
- ↑ See The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament at שׂבס.
