DESOLATION OF NEHORS
| Lehite GN | 1. | City/land formerly known as AMMONIHAH, which had been destroyed by the LAMANITES, ca. 78 BC (Alma 16:11), and noted for the fact that the inhabitants were followers of the sect started by NEHORS. |
Etymology
This GN is a combination of a translated noun followed by a genitive transliterated PN in the plural. For the singular PN NEHOR, see the same.[1]
DESOLATION is the translation into English of the nomen regens of a genitive construct chain. There are four Semitic lexemes that could provide the Vorlage for DESOLATION, ḥrm, ḫrb, ḥrb, and šmm.
The first possible lexeme, ḥrm, is particularly appropriate as the Vorlage on the plates because the hiphil form can mean “to dedicate to destruction,”[2] an appropriate nuance given that the DESOLATION OF NEHORS (formerly known as AMMONIHAH) had been marked for destruction if the inhabitants would not repent (Alma 8:16; 9:4). , As Hugh Nibley pointed out years ago,[3] a HEBREW GN name built on this lexeme is ḥormâ, “Hormah,” the name given to three towns or cities in the Old Testament, each of which were attacked, damaged, or destroyed. For example see Judges 1:17, “and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.” See also Numbers 21:3 and Deut. 1:44 for the other two examples.
The second lexeme, ḫrb, means “to dry up, be in ruins,”[4] and yields the noun ḫōreb, “devastation, waste;” and ḫorbâ (Arabic, ḫirbat), “site of ruins.”
The third possibility is a denominative verb from ḥereb, “sword,” which in the qal means to “massacre,”[5] also an appropriate name for a city that had been marked for destruction.
The fourth possible HEBREW lexeme, šmm, means “be deserted, be appalled” and in the hiphil, “cause to be desolate.” Various noun forms based on this lexeme could be the basis for Book of Mormon DESOLATION: šĕmāmâ means “desolation, ruin;” mĕšamôt in the plural means “waste, desolation” (Isaiah 15:6); and šammâ means “devastation, horror;” and mĕšômēm is used for “desolator” (Daniel 11:31, šiqqȗṣ mĕšômēm, “abomination that maketh desolate”).
See Book of Mormon NEHOR and cf. Book of Mormon DESOLATION.
Variants
Deseret Alphabet: 𐐔𐐇𐐝𐐄𐐢𐐁𐐟𐐊𐐤 𐐉𐐚 𐐤𐐀𐐐𐐃𐐡𐐞 (dɛsoʊleɪʃʌn ɒv niːhɔːrz)
Notes
- ↑ For examples of NEHOR as the nomen rectum of a genitive construct chain see Alma 14:16 & 18; 15:15; 16:11; and 24:29.
- ↑ HALOT s.v., ḥrm.
- ↑ H. Nibley, Since Cumorah, 194 = CWHN VII:171, citing L. Woolley & T. E. Lawrence, The Wilderness of Zin (London: Cape, 1936), 107.
- ↑ Cf. HALOT and BDB (F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, eds. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1968.) s.v. ḫorbah.
- ↑ HALOT, s.v. ḥrb.
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