LEBANON
| Biblical GN | 1. | An ancient Near Eastern region (2 Nephi 12:13; 27:28) |
LEBANON is the name of a mountainous region north of Israel mentioned four times in the Isaiah section of the Book of Mormon but not mentioned as a separate PN or GN in the Book of Mormon. The name Lebanon contains an -ôn ending indicating a "place of whiteness" (perhaps of snow in the mountains). The German scholar, Wilhelm Borée, in his outstanding study, Die alten OrtsnamenPalästinas (The Ancient Place Names of Palastine), cites fully eighty-four ancient Canaanite place names with the ending -ôn in biblical and extrabiblical sources (Egyptian and Mesopotamian writings, the El-Amarna letters, ostraca), including AYYALON (Elon) (Joshua 19:42-43), ELTEKON (Joshua 15:59), ASHKELON (Judges 1:18), GIBEON (Joshua 9:3), GIBBETHON (Joshua 19:44), DISHON (Genesis 36:21), ZIPHRON (Numbers 34:9), HELBON (Ezekiel 27:18), HOLON (Joshua 21:15), HAMMON (Joshua 19:28), HEBRON (Joshua 10:36), HANNATHON (Joshua 19:14), DIBON (Numbers 21:30), and HESHBON (Numbers 21:30).[1]
Notes
- ↑ Wilhelm Borée, 'Die alten OrtsnamenPalästinas (The Ancient Place Names of Palastine) 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1930); Anson F. Rainey, "Toponymics od Erets-Israel," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 231(1978):5, calls -ôn an "appellative" suffix that describes "some feature or aspect of the site."
