NEUM

Brass Plates PN

1.

Old World prophet quoted by Nephi I (1 Nephi 19:10)

The biblical Hebrew ne’um means “voice (inspired or visionary), utterance, revelation, word, decree; oration, song” (RFS) or “oracle” (JH; cf. Köhler-Baumgartner). The word is used in the prophetic texts to mean an utterance of Jehovah, and thus is a suitable name for a prophet (JH).

The root *N‘M means “to be pleasant” (JAT, JH; cf Köhler-Baumgartner). From this root come the biblical PN na‘am, na‘am_h, na‘omî, and na‘aman.  However, the vowels in Neum are inappropriate for a stative Hebrew verb (JH), which would be na‘im. The noun form is no‘am (RFS).

Unlikely is the derivation of the name from Nehemiah, one of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel) (R&S 1:203). The phoneme h cannot be dismissed (RFS).

Cf. Book of Mormon JENEUM, NAHOM.

SDR