SEBUS
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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 water, flocks or people (PYH). 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 HALOT at שׂבס.
