RAMEUMPTOM
| Lehite noun | 1. | Prayerstand, ca. 74 BC (Alma 31:21) |
The first element of the name is perhaps related to Hebrew râm, “to be high, exalted,” the same root that appears in the biblical GN Ramah, “hill” (cf. Book of Mormon Ramah). The form could be a plural nomens regens with the second element of the name in construct and thus mean “the elevations of.” It is tempting to see Hebrew ʿomed, “stand,” and in the derived sense “place,” [1] with the 3c.p. possessive pronoun, ʿomdām as the second element in Rameumptom, even though the vowels and consonants only plausibly correspond, thus giving the meaning, “the heights/loftiness/elevations of their stand” (RFS). The insertion of a bilabial voiceless plosive between a preceding bilabial and a following consonant is not without precedent. [2] The vowels of ʿomed, if ʿomed belongs to the qutl class of segholates, can be traced to an original [u] and Ø, thus matching the Book of Mormon vowels. The change of a voiced to an unvoiced dental is also plausible. Harder to explain is the change of a to o, if the last two characters represent the possessive pronoun. The corresponding Aramaic 3c.p. possessive pronoun does have the *o vowel. The name and the stand are suggestive of the Jewish usage of ʿamīdāh, “stand” (see E. Werner, The Sacred Bridge, pp. 11–13, 15–16, which relates directly to the form, function and meaning of Rameumptom, “holy stand.”) Interestingly, the term ʿomed, translated “standingplace” *is always preceded in the Bible by the preposition ʿal, hence “upon their standingplace,” which may imply a special spot, perhaps a platform for notables such as the one used at the festival of Sukkot (JAT).
See also the Hebrew ʿamida prayer. (RFS).
It is also possible that the second element could be derived from Hebrew ʿam(mah), “people,” or Arabic ʾumt-, “people.” The former does not have a *feminine form that I am aware of, and therefore the t would have to be added to form an otherwise unattested form. The latter comes from the common Semitic root ʾmm, “mother,” with derived meanings in different forms. Thus Rameumptom may mean “the elevation of the people.”
If the word is from the Hebrew singular rāmāh, “hill, high place, height,” then, as Tvedtnes points out, its construct form would be remat. This is not to invalidate the etymology. Often there are two plurals to a noun, each with different meanings, e.g., *
SEE THE NT CITY Betharamphtha in F.F. Bruce, New Testament History (New York, etc.: Doubleday, 1971), 341.
Richard Anderson in a personal communication suggested that Rameumptom may derive from Hebrew rmh, “high, raised up” and Hebrew mptn, “door, doorway.” See also Reynolds, Story of the Book of Mormon, p. 293, or 318, for ramoth, “high, elevated” and *-mptom, “threshhold.”
Unlikely is Egyptian rʿ-m-pt, “the sun is in the sky” (HWN via Urrutia).
See also Rameumptom Variants
Notes
- ↑ See Nehemiah 13:11 ʿomdām, “their standingplace.”
- ↑ The Hebrew šimšōn, KJV “Samson,” cannot be pronounced without adding a bilabial plosive between the m and the š, i.e., šimpšōn, which is why the Greek transliteration of the name is written with the plosive character *ψ, and why some English renderings of the name also contain the p.
Bibliography
- Daniel H. Ludlow A Companion to your Study of the Book of Mormon. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1969.
