Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

  In addition to the possibility mentioned  by
 George below, and which is widely accepted, 
one should add the possibility of "city of Shalem".
This is suggested by the El-Amarna name, where
 the Hebrew "Yeru-" replaced the Akkadian
 for 'city'.

  This second possibility - whether or not the
Egyptian Execration texts  lend a much earlier
 support to it - cannot be written off.

    Another open question is the diphthong of the
 dual which cropped up in  the pronounciation
 Yeru$alayim (also in some written versions).
 There is no clear scholarly explanation for
 this.

   As for the objection to the inclusion of the 
 minor deity Shalem from Ugarit in the city's name -
 note the existence of dozens and dozens word-pairs 
in biblical Hebrew which are the exact equivalents
 of such pairs in LB Ugaritic. This is a case of
 precise linguistic borrowing.


   Uri Hurwitz

   




...Second, the 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 ירושׁלם means 
'founded by/for Shalem'. The proper noun Shalem 
is the name of a deity known from cognate
 cultures (eg. Ugaritic).


GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia