SIDON

From Book of Mormon Onomasticon
Revision as of 02:26, 29 November 2014 by Rlc42 (talk | contribs) (adding references)
Jump to navigationJump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
Lehite GN 1. River, ca. 87 BC (Alma 2:15,17,27,34,35; 3:3; 4:4; 6:7; 8:3; 16:6,7; 22:27,29; 43:27,32,35,39,40,41,50,51,53; 50:11; 56:25; Mormon 1:10)

Etymology

Since this river passed through ZARAHEMLA, and ZARAHEMLA was first settled by Mulekites, it is likely that this GN is Mulekite. If it does derive from the biblical name for the Phoenician city SIDON (ṣidon, Phoenician ṣdn, EGYPTIAN ddwn3, ASSYRIAN ṣiduna), as most commentaries suggest, this may denote the presence of Phoenician influence among the Mulekites.

HALOT states that the “etymology [of the Phoenician GN is] not absolutely certain.” DNWSI says “unknown meaning” for ṣdn, and “uncert[ain] meaning” for ṣd, and has no entry for ṣwd. It is possible that it may come from HEBREW ṣwd, to catch, hunt, and if it does, -ôn may be the fairly common nominalizing ending.

Unlikely is the comparison with Greek σουδαριον, “cloth to wipe off sweat” (Liddell and Scott) as in Luke 19:20 (KJV “napkin”) (RFS).

Cf. Book of Mormon SIDOM.

See also Sidon Variants

Variants

Sidom, Siden

Deseret Alphabet: 𐐝𐐌𐐔𐐊𐐤 (saɪdʌn)

Notes