CUMENI

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Jaredite PN 1. King (Alma 56:14; 57:7, 8, 12, 23, 31, 34)

Etymology

It is possible that this is also a personal name because of the fairly common NEPHITE combination of the PN ending in "-i" with its suffixed PN counterpart ending in "-ihah," where both are PNs, and because some places were named after the first person who settled there. Several North-west Semitic etymologies are possible, though none of them are convincing. Hebrew kmn, meaning "to hide, to hide up," might have a translation "Hidden-away." Less likely is the Hebrew כמן kammōn, meaning "cumin," giving the translation, "[Place of] Cumin," or reading with a gentilic ending, "[The One of ] Cumin."

The Lehite GN CUMENI may contain the JAREDITE element kumen/cumen. Alternatively, if it does not contain the Jaredite element kumen/cumen, it may be related to the EGYPTIAN cumeni elements in the Book of Mormon PN Pacumeni, but without the later Egyptian demostrative-definite article p3, for example, p3-kwmni,[1] and the name of the Egyptian hero name Pacumeni, but without the "Pa." Further, see the entry under Pacumeni.

Other possibilities include Egyptian kmn, "blind one" (EHA); Egyptian k3-mn, "the Bull is established" (Coptic kemēn), a place near Ihnasya in central Egypt (RFS); and the Akkadian kummu, "holy place, shrine, sanctuary" (RFS).

Cf. Book of Mormon KUMEN, KISHKUMEN, KUMENONHI, CUMENIHAH

Variants

Deseret Alphabet: 𐐗𐐆𐐅𐐣𐐀𐐤𐐌 (kɪuːmiːnaɪ)

Notes


  1. Robert F. Smith, Egyptianisms in the Book of Mormon, 36-37.
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