EMER
| Jaredite PN | 1. | King (Ether 1:28, 29; 9:14 (x2), 15 (x2), 16 (x2), 21) |
Etymology
Until possible language affinities for JAREDITE names can be determined, all suggestions for etymologies of JAREDITE names must remain more speculative than substantive. With that caveat, the onomasticon does offer etymologies for some JAREDITE names, especially if it is possible that some JAREDITE names were translated into NEPHITE, or were otherwise related to one or more Semitic languages.
If ancient Mesopotamian languages may be appealed to for the etymology of the JAREDITE PN EMER, the following may be considered. There was a city named Emar on the south-western corner of the great westward bend of the upper Euphrates, mentioned in various cuneiform sources, including Ebla.[1]
Further, Semitic languages contain the vocabel ʾmr, meaning “to speak, tell; to relate; to command."[2] This root appears on PNs in Ugarit in the forms ʾmry and ʾmrʾl, the latter meaning approximately “God speaks/commands.” The biblical Hebrew cognate noun ʼēmer means "speech, word," and appears in the KJV PN Immer (Jeremiah 20:1 1 Chronicles 9:12, 24:14, Ezra 2:37, Nehemiah 3:29, 1 Esdras 9:21), which is short for ʼimrîyahû.[3] (The King James spelling is derived from the Greek LXX and Jerome PN emmer.)
Somewhat less likely is the East and North-west Semitic word ʾmr, meaning “sheep,” with its Akkadian pronunciation of “immeru(m),” which does appeal in Old Akkadian PNs”.[4] See also the Sargonic and Ur III Period PNs from Akkadian amāru, “to see”[5], and from imārum, “donkey”[6] Biblical HEBREW ’emer, “branch,” appears in the construct plural ʾimrê in Genesis 49:21[7] (RFS). Note also the Sumerian word amar, "calf."
Cf. Book of Mormon OMER, EMRON
See also Emer Variant
Variants
Deseret Alphabet: 𐐀𐐣𐐇𐐡 (iːmɛr)
Notes
- ↑ For its importance to biblical studies, see Paul Hoskisson, "Emar as an Empirical Model of Transmission of Canon," in ed. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger, The Biblical Canon in Comparative Perspective: Scripture in Context IV, (Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Studies vol. 11)(Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1991),21-32.
- ↑ For Example, from the Arabic substantive amir al-bahr, "commander of the sea" (from the Arabic verbal root ʾmr, "to say, tell, command" derives our English word "admiral"); see Edward Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 8 vols (London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893/reprint N.Y.: F. Ungar Publ., 1955-1956), v. 1/1 p.97 s.v. amir.
- ↑ Albright, BASOR, 86:25-26.
- ↑ I. J. Gelb, Glossary of Old Akkadian (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1973), 46
- ↑ Ibid,. 47
- ↑ Ibid., 46.
- ↑ It should be noted that the consonantal text of Genesis 49:21,ʾmry špr, would allow the translation, “goodly lambs,” instead of the King James “goodly words,” though ʾmr is not the usual word for lamb in Hebrew. See HALOT ʾmr and špr.
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