AMARON
| Lehite PN | 1. | Scribe, 2nd c. BC (Omni 1:3, 4) |
This entry is not finished
Etymology
AMARON seems most likely to be connected with the root West Semitic root ʾmr, “to speak, to say; word.” Biblical names such as ʾmryh, Amariah and ʾmry, Imri tend to reinforce this connection, as does the Ammonite PN ʾmrʾl (*AL, p. 95) and the Ugaritic PN a-mar-daddu (Gröndahl, p. 37). It would be easy to suggest that it is a nominal form of this root plus the diminutive hypocoristic suffix -on (IPN, p. 38* Is this really so?), such as the biblical PNs Amnon and Sampson or the West Semitic PN * ŝšamaʿ-on (WSPN, p. 35). The name would thus translate as, approximately, “the command,” perhaps a shortened form of Amariah, “command of Yahweh.”
It may well be that AMARON is the same name as the Aramaic PN ʿm[r]n or the Arabic PN ʿamr-an from the root “live,” “honor” (KAI, 229:2–3).
Possible is the Arabic ʿmr, “to worship” or “to live,” as in biblical Hebrew PN ʿomrî, with on afformative (JH).
It is interesting that both AMARON and AMMARON were NEPHITE scribes/historians, though separated in time by many centuries.
RFS prefers to connect the names (aleph or ayin*) ômar and imrî with the Arabic ʾamîr, “commander, Emir” (so used in 2 Kings 20:1–6; see BASOR 231; 76 [109]), possibly = EGYPTIAN imy-r3, “overseer,” with word-plays in Omni 1:2–3, 6, 9; Jarom 1:1, 15.
If the root is ʿmr, “to worship, live,” and if AMARON was more worshipful than his father OMNI, does his name reflect the attribution of his life and preservation to his righteousness? According to his short account, the Lord destroyed the wicked NEPHITES but spared the righteous (Omni 1:4-8) (RFS).
Unlikely, but not impossible, is biblical Hebrew ʿam-ʾarôn, “people of the ark” (JH).
See also Amaron Variant
See Book of Mormon AMMARON, AMMORON, AMORON, MORONI, MORONIHAH, EMER, OMER, AMULEK (vs. MULEK)
Variants
Deseret Alphabet: 𐐈𐐣𐐈𐐡𐐊𐐤
Notes
