Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Chavoux Luyt <chavoux AT gmail.com>]

For once I am in total agreement with Jim! :-)

> From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
<snip>
>
> George Athas wrote:  “[T]he etymology of Jerusalem is usually based on a 
> form of the verb ירה, which has within its semantic domain the concept of 
> 'putting up' or 'founding' (cf. Gen 31.51; Job 38.6). On this basis, it is 
> concluded that ירושׁלםmeans 'founded by/for Shalem'. The proper noun Shalem 
> is the name of a deity known from cognate cultures (eg. Ugaritic).”
>
<snip>
>
> With the name “Jerusalem” first appearing in the Amarna Letters, at about 
> the time that the Hebrews emerge as a distinct people, one suspects that 
> the Canaanite name of the Amarna Age city of Jerusalem had been “Peace”, 
> spelled $LM.  $LM [Hebrew shalom] appears in various forms in many west 
> Semitic languages, and is thought to derive from proto-Semitic $alam and to 
> pre-date the Amarna Age as a west Semitic common word in Canaan.  “The root 
> $lm is attested since the earliest times in all branches of Semitic….”  
> Helmer Ringgren, Heinz-Josef Fabry, “Theological Dictionary of the Old 
> Testament, vol. 15” (2006), p. 15.  Whereas there is no evidence whatsoever 
> that the Ugaritic god $lm [one of a pair of minor Ugaritic deities] was 
> known in Late Bronze Age Canaan, we know that some form of $lm, meaning 
> “peace”, was known by all the various west Semitic-speaking Canaanites 
> throughout Canaan at the time.  Moreover, many Israelites have a name 
> spelled $LM in unpointed text, so we’re sure that the common word $LM was 
> very suitable to be used as a proper name.
>
>
>
> Although it may be dismissed by some as allegedly being a “folk etymology”, 
> the most straightforward etymology of “Jerusalem” is that it means “City of 
> Peace”.  YRW in Hebrew originally was úru, meaning “city” in 
> Sumerian/Akkadian in the Amarna Letters.  $LM is the west Semitic word for 
> “peace”.  I myself do not see Canaanite warawa as ever having been part of 
> this city name [with Jerusalem not being in the Execration Texts], nor do I 
> see any evidence that anyone at Jerusalem ever knew of the pagan god 
> Shalem.  Rather than meaning “Founded by/for [the pagan god] Shalem”, I see 
> the city name “Jerusalem” as meaning, from day #1:  “City of Peace”.
>

Shalom
Chavoux Luyt