GAD

GAD

Lehite GN

City, burned with fire ca. 34 AD, along with Laman, Josh, and Kishkumen (3 Nephi 9:10)

The Hebrew root gād meaning “fortune, luck, riches, etc.,” is quite common, including KJV Gad, the Israelite tribe (one of the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel), whose name is used in word-play on gād “good-fortune” (Genesis 30:11, Isaiah 65:11).47 The PN shows up nearer the time of Lehi in the 8th century BC Samaria Ostraca (6:16–18:30) in the form gdyw (JAT), the -yw being the theophoric element and the northern Hebrew dialectic form for Jehovah;48 note the Hebrew PNs gdy and gdyhw “Yahu is my good fortune” (7th century BC Hebrew seals ##23, 24, and 26, referring to the same person);49 it also shows up in the biblical GNs Hazar-gaddah “Village of good fortune” (Joshua 15:27); Baal-gad “Lord-Gad” (Joshua 11:17); Migdal-gad “Tower of Gad, Tower of Fortune” (Joshua 15:37); and appellative PNs Gaddi “My good fortune” (Numbers 13:11, 1 Maccabees 2:2); Gaddiel, “My good fortune is El” (Numbers 13:10); Gadi “My good fortune” (2 Kings 15:14, 17);50 also from this Semitic root is Punic Gades > Cadiz (Spain), 51 any resident of which is known in Spanish as gaditano.

Also possible is Hebrew gad “coriander, cilantro” (by analogy with the Arabic GN Ras Shamra “Cape Fennel” [JH]).

It is likely that this Nephite GN comes from the PN of the person who settled the city.

See AMNIGADDAH, GADIANDI, GADIANTON/GADDIANTON, GADIOMNAH.

47 See the 1979 LDS edition of the Bible (page 45) for the paronomasia at Genesis 30:11.

48 The Bigrammaton yo (=yahu) is known primarily from the northern Hebrew dialect; see Z. Zevit, Matres Lectionis in Ancient Hebrew Epigraphs, 12–13 nn. 14–15.

49 Hobbs, “Gadi,” in Freedmen, ed., ABD, II: 868, citing the Samaria Ostraca, Arad Inscriptions 71–72, and Hebrew seals published by N. Avigad, Hebrew Bullae from the Time of Jeremiah (1985/1986): 39–41.

50 Maier, “Gad (Deity),” in D. N. Freedman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6 vols., II: 863–64.

51 Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, 127.

Bibliography

Albright, William F. Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths. Doubleday, 1968.

Hobbs, T. R. “Gadi,” in D. N. Freedman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6 vols., II: 868. NY: Doubleday, 1992.

Maier, Walter, III. “Gad (Deity),” in D. N. Freedman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6 vols., II: 863–64. NY: Doubleday, 1992.

Zevot, Ziony. Matres Lectionis in Ancient Hebrew Epigraphs. Cambridge, Mass.: ASOR, 1980.