Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear Karl,

From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
> 1) Carmel was not the name of a town, rather of a region. A mountainous
> region.
>
> 2) The name predates Joshua's invasion, as such, it is possible that in 
> its
> original language it had a different meaning than expected from Hebrew.

While I am pretty certain that I'm going to disagree with whatever Jim is 
getting to, Carmel in Judah IS a town. It's listed in the third 
"sub-district" of hill-country towns in Josh. 15:55, together with the 
fairly well-known towns of Maon, Ziph (also known from the LMLK stamps) and 
Juttah. All of these can be identified with ruins or villages south of 
Hebron that bear pretty much the same name today - Khirbet Ma'in, Tell Zif, 
Khirbet Kirmil and Yatta. Abigail, of course, was the wife of Nabal, who was 
from Maon and had buisness in Carmel 1 Sam. 25:2 ff.).
As a noun, "KRML" means "half-ripened grain" or something of the sort, but 
is sometimes taken as a shortened form of Kerem (vineyard) + El (God). And 
of course, there is also a mountain on the northern coast with the same 
name.

As far as I know, the name "Carmel" is NOT attested in any pre-Israelite 
sources.

Yigal Levin