IRREANTUM: Difference between revisions
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The ''/i/'' that precedes the doubled ''/r/'' is also easily explained as either a prosthetic aleph added to the name to break up a consonant cluster,<ref>or as the aleph of the South Semitic definite article '''il''. When the article is pronounced together with the noun that follows it, the''/l/'' assimilates to the following consonant, doubling it.<ref>Supporting this interpretation of the first two elements of IRREANTUM is the existence of a pre-Islamic city/village name ''ʾrwy'', <ref>exactly what might be expected from the combination of a prosthetic aleph or an assimilated definite article and the root ''rwy''. The first part of IRREANTUM would then be ''’rrȇ-<*’rrey-<*rwey-.'' | The ''/i/'' that precedes the doubled ''/r/'' is also easily explained as either a prosthetic aleph added to the name to break up a consonant cluster,<ref>or as the aleph of the South Semitic definite article '''il''. When the article is pronounced together with the noun that follows it, the''/l/'' assimilates to the following consonant, doubling it.<ref>Supporting this interpretation of the first two elements of IRREANTUM is the existence of a pre-Islamic city/village name ''ʾrwy'', <ref>exactly what might be expected from the combination of a prosthetic aleph or an assimilated definite article and the root ''rwy''. The first part of IRREANTUM would then be ''’rrȇ-<*’rrey-<*rwey-.'' | ||
The element - | The element -ān is a common affix (a particle appended to a word) used in all the Semitic languages, including ancient South Semitic. It occurs Aespecially in abstracts,<ref>meaning abstract nouns, similar to the use of the affix "-ship" in the English word "kingship." An abstraction from "watering" seems to fit the requirement here that IRREANTUM have something to do with "water."<ref> | ||
The final element, tmm, could well be the common West Semitic root meaning “complete, whole; innocent, perfect; etc. Both the noun form and the infinitive form in Hebrew are tōm, which reverts to its earliest form, tūm, when it is not stressed. Together with the first part of IRREANTUM, the name would mean, somewhat literally, “abundant watering of completeness,” or “fully abundant waters.” That Irrean and tum are separate words would also explain why the /n/ does not assimilate to the following /t/, which always happens within a word of Hebrew origin, but not when the /n/ ends one word and the /t/ begins another. | The final element, tmm, could well be the common West Semitic root meaning “complete, whole; innocent, perfect; etc. Both the noun form and the infinitive form in Hebrew are tōm, which reverts to its earliest form, tūm, when it is not stressed. Together with the first part of IRREANTUM, the name would mean, somewhat literally, “abundant watering of completeness,” or “fully abundant waters.” That Irrean and tum are separate words would also explain why the /n/ does not assimilate to the following /t/, which always happens within a word of Hebrew origin, but not when the /n/ ends one word and the /t/ begins another. | ||
Revision as of 23:32, 24 March 2011
| Lehite GN | 1. | Sea, most likely off the Arabian coast, meaning “many waters” (1 Nephi 17:5) |
IRREANTUM may be composed of four elements: a prosthetic aleph, the root rwy, the nominalizing affix -an, and the root tmm. Together, these four elements would yield the literal meaning, “abundant watering of completeness.” This meaning is an acceptable match with the translation given in 1 Nephi 17:5, “many waters.”Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag The first attestation, which ends in a water sign suggesting group writing for –um, “waters,” was interpreted by Siegfried Schott as the “mouth of ʿnty-waters,[1] with the dual of ʿnt, “finger, ten thousand” (perhaps to be associated with the dual or plural of ḏb`), which might be taken as the philological equivalent of the Hebrew rb, rbb, “myriad, ten thousand,” the highest number in Hebrew for which there is a word (RFS, “Egyptianisms”).[2]
Hugh W. Nibley also points out that “one of the more common Egyptian names for the Red Sea was Iaru...[which] is not Egyptian...[and whose] meaning is unknown,” and that “antum” from iny-t and ʿnjt both describe large bodies of water (SC, 196). Also note that “many waters” is a typical Egyptian designation, e.g., Fayyum (SC, 195.).
Notes
- ↑ Schott, Urkunden Mythologischen Inhalts,
- ↑ Higher numbers must be expressed by combinations of lesser numbers. It is interesting to note that in the Nephite sections of the Book of Mormon, the highest numbers expressed are in thousands. Only in the Jaredite section does the number “million” appear.
Bibliography
Paul Y. Hoskisson, with Brian Hauglid and John Gee, “Irreantum,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 11,1 (2002): 90-93.
