Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

1.  Isaac Fried wrote:
 
“XERMON could be possibly a compacted form of the compounds HAR-RAM-) 
 ON or KAR-RAM-)ON, or HAR-MA(ON or KAR-MA(ON, or who knows what.”
 
“Hermon” in unpointed text is XRMWN.  I agree with you completely that XR 
(at the beginning of this name) may, on one level, be referencing HR, that 
is, “
mountain”.  Since “Hermon” is the most prominent mountain in northern Canaan, 
it is hard to miss the possibility that XR may on one level be a non-standard 
spelling of the somewhat similar sounding HR, meaning “mountain”.
 
Then we can see “Hermon”/XRMWN as being HR + M-N.  As I noted in my prior 
post, M-N is a truly ancient, pre-Hebrew west Semitic root that means “to be 
appointed to oversee, and having implications of towering, divine-like 
grandeur”. 
 (As to M-N, see MNH in Hebrew, and ’amn and hmn in Ugaritic.)
 
2.  David Kolinsky wrote:
 
“I would like to add from my research that XRM ~ ChRM in all probability 
means "lifted, mounted up".  related words:  RM = high”
 
Yes, RM means “high” or “up”, being the second syllable of Abraham’s birth 
name.  If the X/heth at the beginning is, in part, an alternative rendering 
of 
H/he, then (i) the H could mean “the”, (ii) RM means “high”, and (iii) –WN 
as a suffix means “place”.  So we then logically have:  X-RM-WN = “the high 
place”.  I myself do not see that as being the primary analysis, or the 
primary 
root, of “Hermon”.  But Mt. Hermon certainly is “the high place”, so this 
analysis works well as an auxiliary meaning/root.
 
(As to whether the concept of “destroy” is in here, see #3 below.) 
 
3.  Yigal Levin wrote:  
 
“You are wrong that the common etymology for Hermon, XRM, means ‘to destroy’
.  It means ‘to consecrate’….”
 
Is XRM a pleasant word in Biblical Hebrew, that connotes “consecration” in 
the form of being a peaceful blessing?  Or, by stark contrast, is XRM one of 
the most violent words in the language of Biblical Hebrew?
 
XRM means “consecrate” to God in the sense of utterly “destroying” 
something in the name of God.
 
Here is BDB’s first definition of XRM:
 
“1.  most oft. of devoting to destruction cities of Canaanites and other 
neighbours of Isr., exterminating inhabitants, and destroying or 
appropriating 
their possessions.”
 
The Blue Letter Bible gives the following as some of its alternative 
definitions for XRM:
 
“ban, devote, destroy utterly, completely destroy, dedicate for destruction, 
exterminate, prohibit, consecrate, split, slit, mutilate”.
 
David Kolinsky wrote:  “XRM = lift up > as in mount XeRMon
         = lift up and remove > to destroy
         = lift up and remove > to consecrate
 …In Syriac = devote to G-d, destroy utterly, curse, put under a ban
 …In Arabic:
              ChRM = take away, deny, exclude, prohibit, declare sacred
               XRM = to carry away / off, destroy, annihilate, come to an 
end, peter out” 
 
That is to say, the overtones of XRM in Biblical Hebrew are totally different 
from the normal meaning of “to consecrate” in English.  The English language 
stock phrase “baptism by fire” is a little closer to the mark.  XRM connotes 
tremendous power, that usually is exercised in an extremely violent way:  “
destroy utterly, completely destroy”, “exterminate”, “split, slit, mutilate”. 
 
The concept of XRM is not for the faint of heart.  The overtones of XRM in 
Biblical Hebrew are totally different than the normal meaning of the polite 
English word “consecrate”.
 
As such, XRM does not make sense as being either the sole root of “Hermon”, 
or even the primary root of “Hermon”.  The majestic, towering Mt. Hermon was 
not thought of primarily as either “devoting to destruction cities of 
Canaanites and other neighbours of Isr., exterminating inhabitants, and 
destroying or 
appropriating their possessions”, or as exemplifying “to completely destroy, 
dedicate for destruction, exterminate, prohibit, consecrate, split, slit, 
mutilate”, or, per the Arabic cognates, “take away, deny, exclude, prohibit, 
declare sacred”, “carry away/off, destroy, annihilate, come to an end, peter 
out”.
 
No, the true root of Hermon/XRMWN is M-N, meaning “to be appointed to 
oversee, having implications of towering, divine-like grandeur”.
 
I agree with Isaac Fried that the XR at the beginning of XRMWN/Hermon can on 
one level be viewed as being a prefix, which in large part is a non-standard 
spelling of HR, meaning “mountain”.  So on one level, “Hermon” means “Mt. M-N”
.  It is hard to think of a better meaning for “Hermon”.  (See also David 
Kolinsky’s analysis of RM/“high” in #2 above.)
 
But by using the non-standard spelling (and pronunciation) XR (instead of 
HR), that nicely brought XRM into play as well (being the first three letters 
of 
XRMWN/Hermon).  Now, as a secondary meaning/root, we get a reference to the 
terrible divine power of destruction (XRM).  So the non-standard spelling XR, 
by 
creating XRM at the beginning of this name, gives a further boost to the 
already powerful main meaning of Hermon/XRMWN, which is Mt. M-N.
 
*       *       *
 
Rather than being mutually exclusive, these three different theories of the 
origin of “Hermon” may all have played a role.  As to my M-N theory, it is 
the 
oldest.  Hmn in Ugaritic is similar to “Hermon”, and both mean a majestic, 
towering mountain to the north.  Hmn and ’amn in Ugaritic may likely be 
different spellings of the same name, and their common element is M-N.  The 
“Hamon” 
portion of “Baal Hamon” in Phoenician is similar to both hmn in Ugaritic and 
Hermon in Hebrew.  ’amn in Ugaritic is similar to Amana in Hebrew, as well as 
being similar to hmn and Hamon, which shows how “Amana” and “Baal Hermon” 
could easily have ended up being alternative names in Hebrew for the same 
mountain -- the easternmost summit of the three famous mountain peaks on the 
southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range.  I continue to see M-N as 
being the 
original, primary root of “Hermon”. 
 
4.  To say simply that “Hermon”/XRMWN means “sanctuary”, as some sources 
do, is to miss almost all of the raw power, earthiness and elemental meaning 
of 
Biblical Hebrew.  In English, “sanctuary” is a quiet, peaceful place, where 
one can passively hide from any and all troubles that one may be having in 
the 
outside world.  “Hermon”/XRMWN does not have a meaning anything at all like 
that passive English concept of “sanctuary”.  Rather, “Hermon”/XRMWN in 
Biblical Hebrew is a big, bold, powerful, raw, earthy, violent, divine-like 
word, 
so unlike the passive English word “sanctuary”. 
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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