LABAN
From Book of Mormon Onomasticon
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| Lehite PN | 1. | Captain of fifty in JERUSALEM (1 Nephi 3:31; 2 Nephi 4:1), and custodian of Brass Plates (1 Nephi 3:3) and a descendant of JOSEPH who was sold into EGYPT (1 Nephi 5:16). |
| 2. | Brass Plates of (1 Nephi 3:3, 12 – 3 Nephi 10:17) | |
| 3. | Sword of (1 Nephi 4:9; 2 Nephi 5:14; Jacob 1:10; Words of Mormon 1:13; Mosiah 1:16). |
Etymology
This PN appears in the KJV Genesis 24:29, 50,[1] and as a GN in Deuteronomy 1:1.[2] The PN also appears in the Ugaritic onomasticon.[3] It is possible that the name derives from the Hebrew lābān “white, pale.”[4] Because the Hebrew feminine form lĕbānâ means “full moon,” the biblical PN could also be a theophoric element[5] analogous to the Babylonian names containing the theophoric name Sîn, meaning the moon god. This would be especially meaningful since biblical LABAN lived in Haran (Genesis 27:43; 29:4), which (like Sumerian Ur) was a center of worship of the Moon-god Sîn.[6]
See LEBANON.
Variants
Deseret Alphabet: 𐐢𐐁𐐒𐐊𐐤 (leɪbʌn)
Notes
- ↑ Father-in-law of JACOB, son of Bethuel.
- ↑ = EGYPTIAN Rwbn, RbЗnЗ = "town of Laban" in Palestine, taken by Sargon II of ASSYRIA. ( Wiseman, DOTT, 62[h].)
- ↑ Cyrus H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, 19.1351.
- ↑ So M. Noth, Israelitischen Personennamen, p. 225.
- ↑ See the entry for the PN LABAN in HALOT, II לבן.
- ↑ J-C. Margueron, “Ur,” in Freedman, ed., ABD, VI:766; Y. Kobayashi, “Haran,” ABD, III:58-59.
