THE DISCOVERY OF THE ARCHIVE

It was 1973. It was Oct 7.  It was the twelfth season of digging, when suddenly news came from the dig at Nippur that a workman reported a find of tablets. On Oct 5, the entire Nippur expedition of the  Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, had been called to Bagdad and informed that the dig was to be cancelled because of another war with Israel,  and they only had a couple of days to close the project down.  The discovery of the tablets cast a whole new light on the predicament. Clearly they could not just close down entirely and leave the country.  The expedition had returned to Bagdad prepared to depart the country. They had proceeded to the Residence Police, who were not friendly, and were told to wait.  But they stopped at the Department of Antiquities to inform the officials that there was a major find of tablets. The expedition leader, McGuire Gibson, went to visit Dr. Salman, head of the Department, and told him of the find. He made one phone call and had the government order to leave the country and close down the dig rescinded. The team sent a telegram to Nippur not to dismantle the excavation equipment, and to set everything back up for continuing the dig. They spent a day with the help of Sayyid Fuad Safar, and others, in the Department, renewing permits and taking care of paper work and on Oct 9 they were back at Nippur. (Cole pp. xli-xlii) 

THE GOVERNOR'S TABLETS 

There were a lot of tablets. Some of the tablets had been used to fill-in a grave. There was also a large burial jar filled with tablets. The grave had been that of a child, but the tablets had nothing to do with the child. The tablets were discarded and had been used as back fill. The precise dating and detailed content of the tablets were not immediately known and remained a question for some years. Judith Franke, who just happened to be an expert in the handling of tablets, baking and conserving them, had said at breakfast that this was the kind of situation in which tablets would be found. And it was. She and two others had remained at the dig to close everything down, but a pick man had showed up with his skirt filled with tablets. Sitting at the bottom of an excavation square he had noticed a tablet in the balk, [wall] when he touched it, it and a whole lot of other tablets had suddenly fell out of the wall, like a jackpot at Las Vegas. They recovered the tablets and in spite of the war the expedition had a most extraordinarily productive season.  The tablets were later dated at before 700 BC. Most were much older than this as they had been discarded. Nippur was an old city, (Hunt p. 81) going back more than 2000 years before the tablets had been tossed in as a backfill in a child's grave. Details of the history and chronology of Nippur and other tablet discoveries there, is provided in this web site (Erickson  15 Apr 2005) and won't be repeated here.

PUBLICATION OF THE TABLETS

Tablets that are discovered during the process of excavations of ancient sites "entail not only very careful, slow excavation, but weeks or months of laborious and painstaking baking, cleaning, gluing, photographing, making of molds, analysis, and cataloging," (Cole p. xli) let alone getting around to the transliteration of the tablets into the language represented on the tablets. Then comes the task to translate this all into English. The tablets were passed down through various epigraphers and philologists until two gifted students, Steven Cole, and James A. Armstrong, would become engaged in doing the work for their dissertations, in 1989.  It would not be until 1996, twenty three years after their discovery, that the tablets would be published. (Cole p. xliii) It would take another nine years before the Governor's Archive text would be acquired and studied for this web site. There are at least twenty other important digs and excavations of important sites where tablets have been found that may shed light on Book of Mormon names, they will be studied and included eventually in this web site.  Most of them are included in studies and name lists published only in the last decade or so.  Nibley seems to have left off the study of names in about 1977, probably because of the lack of resource material, which is now available and some became available just this year.

The parallels to the Book of Mormon names in this study would never have been possible without the fast moving events and seemingly miraculous interventions involved in that discovery of tablets in 1973.  It is sometimes quite astonishing how a discovery of tablets in a distant land and all that is necessary for them to come to full light comes to pass. They then must be translated from the cuniform of the tablets into the language represented by the cuniform, then translated from that language into English, before they can be reviewed for possible parallels to the rich, partially unmined treasure of names found in the Book of Mormon. Sometimes the excavation teams are German, French, or Italian, and the publications are in their language, a long wait then occurs until they become translated into English, if they ever are. Sometimes you have to learn to read those languages. Decades of time are often involved before comparisons can be made.  

THE EARLY NEO-BABYLONIAN GOVERNOR'S ARCHIVE:

The historical setting and data concerning Nippur and the dating of the tablets, of the Sandabakku, the Governor, while of interest, are detailed by Cole, (Cole p. l) and need not occupy us in this study, which essentially is confined to an interest in just the personal names found on the tablets and the relationship of the tablets to other sites and areas with related name parallels. The tablets may have only been a part of an archive, "prosopographical analysis...indicates that they either formed an archive or were taken from one." (Cole p. 7) The archive is that of the Governor of Nippur at that time, and his retinue. (Cole p. 9) "The letters in the corpus [archive] are written in an early Neo-Babylonian colloquial dialect (or dialects) and exhibit [in a new idiom] both West Semiticisms and Assyrianisms." (Cole p. 10)  So there will be some variations in spelling of names. Good or close matches to names in the Book of Mormon will therefore be very important.  The names in the tablets would come from a time at least one hundred years earlier or more, before Lehi left Jerusalem.  The Governor's Archive "represents the largest and most significant group of documents to stem from Babylonia for the entire period between 1225 and 725 BC. The letters are particularly important, because they are older than the letters that were sent to the kings of Assyria in Nineveh, and because they are the only such documents written by Babylonians to Babylonians during this entire half-millennium." (Cole p. 14)  "The only comparable material comes from Mari one thousand years earlier." (Cole p. 14)  The Mari material, and then the Ebla material now available, is much more voluminous.  So any names that might be found in the Governor's Archive form this period and from this geographic area, would be extremely important. 

FROM THE CATALOG OF TABLETS

By examining the Catalog of Texts provided by Cole, and examining each of the tablets with their translation, many names are found which then can be checked against the list of names provided on pages 522-525 of the Book of Mormon.  Most of the time the tablets will list the name of the sender and the name of the person who received the tablet, and often names will be mentioned of others in the context of the tablet. Thus, nearly every tablet will provide at least two names to be compared to the Book of Mormon names.  Some tablets actually list names, tablet 129 listed 79 names, tablets 128 listed 250 names, several of which parallel Book of Mormon names as noted below.

In this study a particular Book of Mormon name with a prefix, root, or suffix, that is found in the Governor's Archive of tablets is chosen and compared with the names found, and a brief discussion is provided with references to other corroborating sources and explanations of the names. 

PRIOR STUDIES IN THE WEB SITE:

There are several previous studies of names, (Erickson, Murasu 15 April 2005, and Erickson, Mari, 2005) also a study on Shuruppak (August 2005), and others that discuss the various consonantal elements used in the construction of names, and how the prefix-root-suffix elements are assembled to form names. Much of this will not be repeated here since those web site studies are available.  In Hebrew, name lists identify the consonantal elements, but do not provide the vowels, (Erickson Elephantine 18 Feb 2005) but in the texts from earlier Semitic or Aramaic records, often the transliteration and translation provide the vowels as well, and makes the identification and comparison with Book of Mormon names much easer.  This is especially useful in the names found in the Book of Ether which contain names coming form very ancient times, even Adamic names, and parallels to these name are of great importance since the Jaredites were isolated from all the other systems developed after the Flood. It seems that for the most part, a name before the flood, would still be the same name after the Flood, just look at the Biblical names from Adam to before and just after the flood, to see this.  

Also see (Erickson 18 Feb, 2005, 2 March 2005, 15 April 2005, 18 May 2005, and others mentioned above, portions of which deal with the construction of ancient names.  Since the web site provides these studies, that information will not be repeated here.  In some languages only consonants are utilized, and the reader has to furnish the vowels, such as Hebrew, in others languages, vowels are included, such as in the Semitic documents from Ancient Shuruppak, and in this case, the Governor's Archives as well. The names below are listed essentially in the order in which they were encountered in the Governor's Archive.

ABINADI

In the Book of Mormon the name of the great prophet Abinadi (Mosiah 11:20) has the prefix elements ‘Ab' meaning ‘Father', it has another prefix form in West Semitic of ‘Aba', also meaning ‘father' (Radner p. 1) Names with this prefix are found in the Governor's Archive. This prefix shows up in New Testament times for example the prayers  of Christ in Aramaic were to ‘Aba Father'. The form Aba-gu, an Aramaic form, means ‘the father', and as Aba-il, with the hypocoristic ending of ‘il' means ‘the father is God'. (Radner p. 1)  In West Semitic there is another prefix form in Abinadi, which is ‘Abi' which means ‘My Father'. When this prefix is used in the name of Abinadi the ‘Abi' means ‘servant ', (Radner p. 8) and ‘nadi' is an abbreviation for God, so Abinadi would mean ‘servant of God'. Certainly Abinadi was that.

In the tablets from Ebla, dating 2250 BC, there is an extended prefix in Abinadi, the ‘Abina' elements, these mean: ‘is our father'. In the name Abina-Malik, it means ‘Malik is our father', (Pagan p. 272) so ‘Abinadi' would with this larger prefix, mean: ‘God is our father', because in the extended prefix use, ‘di' is the abbreviation or hypocoristicon for ‘God', making Abinadi a Theophoric name. In North East Semitic, the prefix ‘Abi' can also be used to mean ‘my beloved' (Pagan p. 269) The Book of Mormon name therefore obeys all of the Onomastic rules however the prefix elements are used.  In this specific case, the name is a masculine name and that of a Prophet, and so would mean ‘servant of God' which is what he was.  Compare Abinadi with these names:  Abiaia (aia is my father) Abi-Amma (Amma is my father) Abi-dala, (the father has saved) all of these are in ancient West Semitic names. Also Abidanu (the father has judged), Abi-dekir (the father is remembered). (Radner pp.8-9) Thus one can get the idea of the use of the various prefixes identified and the interpretation of the name Abinadi. The prefix ‘abi' is also found on tablet 128, Item 7 as a-bi-ik-tu. (Cole p. 269)  In the Governor's Archive, another variety of the name is Abinuru, a close relative to Abinadi. (Cole p. 429)

A nearly exact match for Abinadi is found in a form in the ancient Ebla name lists, where the name Abinadu  (Pagan p. 274) differs only by the hypocoristica God endings of ‘u' and ‘i'.  In the Ebla text the name with the ‘u' ending means ‘the exalted one is my father'. Abinadi with the ‘i' ending could mean the same.  In addition, there are at least fifteen names in Pagan's lists with the prefix Abi.  It is evident that the name Abinadi has ancient roots and great antiquity and could have been transmitted down to the Nephite times through Jaredite records.  Because it is true that the prefix Abi is found in Neo-Assyrian names as well, the Ten Tribes would have been contact with peoples of this Empire and the names may have been transmitted down through the Brass Plates, but in its nearly exact match, the name is ancient and found in the Ebla name lists, and more likely therefore to have been brought into the western Hemisphere in the Jaredites genealogies.  

ZERAM:

Zeram, (Alma 2:22) is an unusual name, but most of the 337 non-Biblical names in the Book of Moron are unusual, which makes it impossible for Joseph Smith to have conjured them up out of thin air. If they were made up they should not appear in the ancient names lists at all. In the Book of Mormon the name Zera, or Zeram has the suffix ending of ‘-m' which is a mimation described by Nibley (Nibley p. 98) where he notices that mimation is associated with the most ancient of names, and common to Jaredite names. The ending of ‘-m' is an abbreviation for God, and makes the name a Theophoric name meaning ‘rising of God'. (Mandel p. 546)  The name Zeram could have come from the Jaredite records after Mosiah had translated them.  That leaves the prefix name of Zera. That prefix is found in the Governor's archive in the name Zera-ibni.  (Cole p. 20)  As a separate name it is found on tablet No. 20 as just Zera with no suffix. (Cole p. 77)  It is also found in the Tanakh in the Biblical name Zerahiah, a Hebrew name meaning ‘rising of God' (Ezra 8:4,  500 BC, and l Chronicles 5:32, 12^th Century BC). (Mandel p. 546)  A Zerah was grandson of Esau and Basmath, the daughter of Ishmael, found in Genesis 36:13, again attesting to its antiquity, which would be some seven hundred or more years before Hebrew became standardized. Zerah means ‘rising light', (Mandel p. 546) the suffix ending of ‘h' referring to an abbreviation for Jehovah ‘the light of the world'. The prefix Zera, as before, means ‘rising'. In the Biblical name of Zerahiah, the ‘hiah' ending is a theophoric ending for God. This is especially apparent at the time of Jeremiah. (Nibley p. 98)  Note the consistent ending or suffix on Jeremiah of ‘iah' another abbreviation for Jehovah. In the Governor's Archive Zera also appears in the name Zera-idden on tablet No. 36. (Cole p. 18) The suffix name -idden, means, ‘gives, or to give' so Zera-idden would mean ‘to give a rising'. Zera stands alone as a name on tablet 47, (Cole p. 124) and in a discussion on Senu. (Cole p. 374)  In the Governor's Archive, the prefix and name Zera, appears as:  Zera, zera-ibni, Zeraiya, and Zera-idden.  (Cole p. 438). Thus, this interesting name from the Book of Mormon finds abundant confirmation in the Governor's Archive and elsewhere in Semitic names.

ZERIN:

Zerin   (Ether 12:30) is the name of a mountain, and an ancient Jaredite name. Zerin was removed by the power of the priesthood, (Ether 12:30) an astounding event. In the name is the prefix Zeri, with an ‘n' suffix ending. Zeri is the actual name. As noted above, Zeram has the mimation ending, common to the Jaredite names, the ‘-n' ending was also present in Jaredite names.  The ‘m' endings were dropped in Semitic names in the first half of the second millennium, only a few names used the -m' ending in pre-Hebrew times, but the use of the  ‘-n' continued.  The prefix Zeri could occur in various names without a suffix, and also with suffix endings denoting special attributes, and like many names also occur as a suffix itself.   In the Governor's Archive, it appears on tablets 21 and 22, as Zeri, in the name of a man named Mukin-zeri, where the name Zeri appears as a suffix. (Cole p. 80)  Mukin-zeri...headed the Bit-Amukani tribe, seized the throne of Babylon in 732 BC.  This action prompted Tiglath-pileser 111, to terminate his campaign in Syria and to march instead to Babylonia in an effort to depose him." (Cole pp. l-3) The name Mukin (meaning ‘establishes') appears in many names in the ancient Akkadian lists. (Baker pp 763-765)  Mukin-Zeri means ‘the one who established the offspring', (Baker p. 764), so as a name, Zeri means ‘offspring'.  Thus, in Ether 12:30, the name with a theophoric ending of ‘-n' would mean ‘God's offspring', or "child of God'.  While found in the Jaredite record as a name of a mountain, it could very well have been, before, and after, given to someone as a name. It is an authentic name. On tablet No. 92, Zeri is in the name Zeriya, who is told "he must not spend the night." (Cole p. 193) Mukin-zeri was a shaykh, his capital was at Sapiya, a major stronghold. (Cole p. 3)  Mukin-zeri also appears on tablet 97, he was referred to many times. (Cole p. 203) On Tablet 103, Zeri occurs as a suffix, or ending, in the name Sapik-zeri. (Cole pl. 213) All of these are  spectacular parallels!

AHA

Aha, and its abbreviated form ‘Ah' simply means ‘brother' as found on tablet 108 (Cole p. 219)and in the Personal Names, Aha-eres, and  Aha-idden (Cole p. 429)  Like the prefix  ‘Ab' for father, ‘Ah' for ‘brother' are both common to nearly all the Semitic languages. Aha is one of the two sons of Zoram. (Alma 16:5)  Zoram was a slave, he may not even have been an Israelite. (Largey p. 809)  If he was of another Semitic group, he may have known about this name, or had this name in his background. His genealogy is not given. There are more than 63 persons in the Bible who have ‘Ah' as a prefix in their names. (Mandel pp. 29-45)  If Joseph was copying the Old Testament and constructing names out of names there, to be safe he would have followed the Hebrew form and use of this prefix. But he did not; he used a form found only in the more ancient Aramaic forms of Akkadian and West Semitic. In the ancient Neo-Assyrian name lists there are thirty-four pages of names with the prefix ‘Ah'. (Radner pp. 56-89)  But only four times does it shows up as a given name found in the Book of Mormon as ‘Aha'. And that is in old West Semitic or Akkadian names of ‘Aha'. (Radner p. 56) In nearly all of these ancient names the meaning is ‘brother', the suffixes then modify the name appropriately. In Hebrew, however, which was developed some 1500 years later than some of the old Semitic languages, the name has some different meanings. (Mandel pp. 57-88)  The name Aha appears as Aha-am on tablet No. 128, item 9a, and item 14 as,  a-ah-a,  (Cole p. 269) as further confirmation of the Book of Mormon usage.  See (Erickson, Elephantine Name Parallels, 18 Feb, 2005) for additional details on the prefix ‘Ah', and its use as the name Aha. It also appears in the idiom ‘aha-nadu'  in the Governor's Archive. (Cole p. 281)  It is a single absolute match in texts from Elba in the name Aha, meaning: ‘the brother' where it is also the prefix for many more names. (Pagan p. 278)

LAMAH:

Lamah, who fell in battle with his ten thousand, (Mormon 6:14) is constructed with the prefix Lam and suffix of  ‘ah'.  In this name, the suffix, or ending, of ‘ah' means ‘God'. The prefix is Adamic, found in the name of Lamech, son of  Methuselah, father of Noah, (Genesis 5:25)  and in Lamech son of Methusael, a descendant of Cain. (Genesis 4:18). Three other Book of Mormon names have this prefix, Laman, (l Nephi 2:5) Lamanite, (2 Nephi 5;14) and Lamoni. (Alma 17:21) The prefix Lam means ‘why' in the name Laman, the suffix ‘an' is a hypocoristicon for God, so the name means ‘Why God'; an accurate assessment of the attitude of Laman. Names with the prefix ‘Lam' are also found in ancient West Semitic and Akkadian names, such as Lame and Lamase. (Baker p. 651-652)  In the Governor's Archive it is found in the name Lam-is-il,  (Cole p. 22) and Lamis-il,  from tablet No. 78, confirming the proper use of the prefix in the Book of Mormon. In the Governor's Archive tablets, the name prefix ‘Lam',  (Lamis) seems to mean ‘Touched by Il'  [Elohim].  (Cole p. 78)  In the Governor's Archive the name Lamis is also an Arabic name, ‘which is attested three times in the Jambarat al-nasab....twice as a tribal name...and may also be identical with a name spelled Lms in a Thamudic inscription." (Cole p. 168)  This prefix and name will no doubt show up in other discoveries yet to be studied.

SAM

Sam   l Nephi 2:5, one of the sons of Lehi. A common prefix in ancient names, including Samaria mentioned a number of times in the Brass Plates. So it has great antiquity. Biblical names that include this prefix are Samgar, Samlah, and Samson, who was of the tribe of Dan, the prefix means ‘Sunlight' and also found as a prefix in Samuel, (Num 34:20) which name means ‘God heard', because of the hypocoristica ‘uel' for God, tacked onto the prefix name Sam, meaning ‘heard'. (Mandel pp. 450-453)  In the Governor's Archive it appears on tablet 86 in the name, Sam-as-eriba, (Cole p. 184) and in the name Samalllu, ‘apprentice scribe'. (Cole p. 381)  Also in the archive is the name Samu ‘heaven' in the same relationships as ‘sunlight', ‘God heard', and ‘heaven', (Cole p. 362) and ‘to ordain, determine', (Cole p. 423) quite completely describing Sam, the son of Lehi. Joseph Smith could have just included the common name, Sam, as a Nephite name, but could he also have expected that it had ancient Biblical relationships. With significant prescient meanings that it would show up on tablets dug out of the ruins of ancient Nippur as well?

AMMON

Ammon  (2 Nephi 21:14) also a descendant of Zarahemla (Mosiah 7:13) has the prefix Amm, a common prefix found in Egyptian names (Benz p. 348) as well as in Semitic languages. "The most frequent theophoric element by far in the Book of Mormon names is Ammon. The same is true of Egyptian names." (Nibley 1988, p. 282, and 1989 p. 247) There are six other names in the Book of Moron with just the prefix: Amm, they include Ammaron (2 Ne 21:14), Ammonihah (Alma 8:6) Ammonihahites (Alma 16:9), Ammoran (Alma 52:3) Ammonite (Alma 56:57) Ammonihahites. (Alma 16:9)  In the Governor's Archive it is found on Tablet No. 102 in the name Amme-ladin, (Cole p. 24)  The same name is also found on tablet 102,  who was "a skaykh of the Aramean tribe of Yasia, and linked to the name of a king of the North Arabian tribe of Qedar (Ammu-ladi). (Cole p. 211)  In West Semitic usage, the prefix Amm means  ‘paternal uncle' (Radner p. 102, and Cole p. 211)  and the prefix is found in many names, sometimes the suffix modifies the prefix in meaning. (Radner pp. 106)  The suffix of ‘on' seems to mean ‘the', (Radner p. 106) the same as the ‘i' of Ammi. There are many names in West Semitic with the prefix Amm. (Radner pp. 102-106, 280)  With the ending of ‘on', which in this instance means ‘the', the name could then mean ‘the paternal uncle'.  The prefix used in Egyptian names has a variety of meaning, depending on context and the suffix:  ‘firm', ‘patient', ‘to strengthen', ‘graciousness'  are some of them. (Budge p. 49)  These are all closely related terms.  The Book of Mormon correctly reflects the early and late and continued use of the prefix Amm.

GALLIM:

Gallim  (2 Nephi 20:30), an unusual name, with the prefix Gal, in part discussed in the study on the Ancient City of Shuruppak (Erickson July 2005) where many names with this prefix were noted on tablets found there.  The prefix Gal appears in three names  among some 79 names found on tablet 128 of the Governor's Archive as:  Gal.Mes,  Gal.Gal, Gu.Gal, sometimes as a prefix other times as a suffix, which were corrections made of names earlier translated from records found at Ninevah. (Cole pp. 268, 271, 272) On tablet 114, the elements Gal appear in the names Gal-bur, (usumgal), Gal-subur,  and Gal-ukkin, (kingal), and as the name Gal alone. (Cole p. 231) And then note the nearly exact match found three times on the tablet, 114, of Galam. On tablets 120 and 122, the name Gallabu provides a close match to the full prefix of Gall in the name Gallim. (Cole p. 250 and 254)  The prefix also appears in Ancient Akkadian names where it means ‘boss eyed' and West Semitic where it means ‘redeemed'. There are many ancient names with the  prefix of Gal. (Radner pp. 419-410)  The suffix, or ending,  lim, found in old Akkadian names is an abbreviation for God, so the name Gallim could mean ‘God redeemed'. (Baker p. 662) As a suffix it is also found in the Book of Mormon name Gilgal, the name of a valley in the time of the Jaredites. (Ether 13:27), and because it appears in the Book of Mormon after the Jaredite records were translated, it seems to have been passed on down to other persons such as Gilgal the commander of Ten Thousand who perished in the battle of Cumorah. (Morm 6:14)
The Jaredite record preserves ancient names, and any name found in the Jaredite record should eventually be found in the oldest names recovered from the ancient cities being excavated. Tablet No. 126 states that An.gal was the patron god of the city of Der. (Cole p. 267)  Like in some of the above names, it appears here as a suffix.  It also appears in the Governor's Archive as the root in the name gugallu, which name means,  ‘canal inspector; in the name for a tax collector:  im gu gal an -e, and in the name for ‘barber',  gallabu. (Cole p. 410)

KIB:

Kib is the sixth descendent of Jared (Ether 1:31) and therefore an ancient name going back to before the Tower of Babel. It could have been passed down in ancient Semitic names as well as with the Jaredite genealogies.  Jewish mercenaries assigned to the garrison at Elephantine in Egypt carried that name with them before 600 BC. (Erickson, Discoveries at Elephantine, 7 Jan 2005) The fact that Kib was in current use sometime about 650 BC and near the time of Lehi indicates it is an authentic name. It appears twice in the Governor's Archive, on tablet 128 among 79 other names, dated before 700 BC, in the name Ud.kib.nun.ki,  a corrected name from Ninevah before 700 BC, showing it was around in several societies. In the Aramaic Elephantine Archives it appears in the name Kibda, meaning ‘Yah Honored', (Porten p. 141) and also in the form of ‘Kebadiah' also meaning ‘Yah Honored'. (Porten p. 141) Alone, the name Kib means just ‘honored'.  The Elephantine Archives were in Aramaic and the name would have appeared only as ‘kb' (Kib) that is why the second form ‘kb' (Keb)  while differing in the use of a different vowel, is still the same name, the use of either ‘i', or ‘e' in the name would not have changed the meaning. Kib was a simple name, going back to the second generation after Jared, but effectively contributing to the veracity of the Book of Mormon by its discovery in ancient records before and at the time of Lehi. Of particular interest is that the name Kib appears in old names from Elam, which is modern Iran, such as Kibabise, Kiburti, (Baker p. 614) and in West Semitic names as Kiburti  (Baker p. 614), the meaning being ‘to be great'.  Being ‘great' or  ‘being  Honored', with little difference in meaning, even when the names found at Elephantine are separated by more than 2000 years from those found in Akkad and Ebla, or Elam.  The name Kib was retained by various Semitic groups through thousands of years, and it is an authentic name in the Jaredite genealogies and in the Book of Mormon.     

HAMATH:

Hamath  (2 Nephi 20:9) is included in a quote from Isaiah 10:9.  Hamath, modern Hama, an ancient city on the Orontes River, in Syria, excavated in 1932-1938, mentioned in a number of Biblical texts. Ham is also listed as one of the descendants of Ham (Gen 10:18), probably an extension of the name Ham, found as the modern city if Hama, and the personal name of Hamath.  Ham means ‘hot'.  Hamath is also spelled Hemath in the A.V. Amos 6:14). (Miller p. 242). As an ancient name it is found in old Babylonian tablets, which means to ‘hide, conceal'.  In the Governor's Archive it appears as the name Hamadu  (Cole p. 103) it means ‘to cover up', similar to ‘hide, conceal', so it didn't change meaning much in time. It seems to be a common prefix in West Semitic names. (Baker p. 436) It also appears in the name Hamaka found on tablet 97. (Cole p. 204)  The prefix, Ham, is also found in the Governor's Archive in the names hamadu  ‘to cover over', hamatu, (ha-mat-ti) ‘barren waste', hamru, (ham-ra) ‘irrigated area, hamu, (ha-ma-ka) ‘to rely, be dependent upon'. Variations of the names are given where there is no change in meaning. (Cole p. 314) This is an instance where the Book of Mormon and research of ancient documents confirms the Bible.

LIB

LIB, the 31^st descendent of Jared, the son of a man with the unique name of Hearthom, hopefully that name may be found someday. (Ether l:17) He was also a son of Kish, the subject of a study in this series.  The name of Lib shows up quite a few times in Chapters 10 and 14 of Ether, a frequent name throughout Jaredite history, but never picked up or used by the Nephites.  The name Lib as found in the book of Mormon is found in Column ii, of tablet 118 as Lib. (Cole p. 245)  It is found on tablets from ancient Ebla in the name Libaad, ( Pagan p. 345), so the Jaredites could have known persons with that name before they left the region.  In the Tanakh, the name is the prefix to the name Libni meaning ‘whiteness'. (Mandel p. 330)  The name appears in the 16^th century in Exodus 6:17, as a descendent of Levi. Thus, it could also have been had in the Brass Plates. The name also appears in l Chronicles 6:14 as the father of Asaiah a Levite appointed by King David to be in charge of singers in the House of the Lord. (Mandel p. 330).  No doubt, then, the Brass Plates may have also had this name in its histories.  The name ina-lib-bi, with Lib as a root, is found on tablet 128 item 8. In the Governor's Archive, it also appears in the names libbatu, ‘anger', libbu, (libbi) ‘heart',  libbu, ‘belonging to, out of, the various suffixes modifying the meaning. (Cole p. 333) Thus Lib is attested to throughout history, particularly in the earliest times when the Jaredites could have known about it. .  

GAD

Gad, mentioned in 3 Nephi 9:10, as a city destroyed by Christ. Joseph could have obtained the name from Gad found in Genesis 30:11, the ancestor to the tribe of Gad. But Joseph went beyond this when in the D&C 84:10, refers to Jeremy obtaining the Melchizedek Priesthood under the hand of Gad, and Gad received under the hand of Issias, who received it under the hand of God,  placing the name historically at a very early period near the time of Abraham, because Issias was blessed by Abraham. (D&C 84:13)  In the Tanakh, the name Gad means ‘fortune' with the suffix of ‘i' added to the name, as Gadi, it means my fortune. (Mandel p. 1656).  Gadi was son of Susi of the tribe of Manasseh. (Numbers 13:11) In the name Gadiel, meaning, ‘God is my fortune', the name of one of the spies sent to spy out the land, and a member of the tribe of Zebulan (Numbers 13:10)  (Mandel p. 167)  And in column iv, No. 19,  of tablet 125, the name appears as Gadu, meaning ‘little buck' (Cole p. 265)  or ‘fortune'. Also in the name Gabbiili. (Cole p. 432) There are more than thirty persons having names with this prefix in ancient West Semitic lists (Radner pp. 417-419) where it also appears as the just the name Gad. (Radner p. 418)  The name Gad has also been discussed in greater detail elsewhere. (Erickson, FARA, Aug 2005 on the web site)

KIM:

Kim  (Ether 1:21) is the 27^th descendant of Jared, therefore an old name.  It should be found in ancient records, and could no doubt have been transmitted down through time. In the Governor's Archive it is found as a prefix in the name Kimu on tablet No. 55. (Cole p. 133)  It is found in old Akkadian in such names as Kime, Kimmaia, and Kimama  (Baker p. 616)  where it variously has the meaning of ‘man' or ‘like'. Jaredite names have many parallels to old Akkadian names which appear on the scene about the time of the Flood, the Tower of Babel and the subsequent expansion of the Mesopotamian region. When a name appears in the Jaredite records, the first lists that are checked are name lists of Ebla, the Akkadian, Shuruppak, Mari, and others of the oldest name lists available. This is a meaningful coincidence, but the older lists are where many names of the Book of Mormon are found as noted in these studies. Kim is also attested to in the Governor's Archive in the names of kima, ‘like', and kimsu, ‘knee', in the sense ‘to be on bended knee'. (Cole p. 329)  It was rather amazing how many short three or four letter names there are in the Jaredite record which are found in the Governor's Archive.

MADMENAH

Madmenah, (2 Nephi20:31), the name of a city,  (see Isaiah 11:31), the prefix in the name of importance is ‘Mad'.  In the Governor's Archive, that prefix shows up in the names Maadu, ‘to be plentiful, much, numerous', mada, ‘very', madu, ‘numerous, large', madadu, ‘to measure out', madaktu, ‘campaigning army' and maddattu, (mandattu) ‘tribute'. (Cole pp. 335-336, 339-340)  It appears in the Jewish  Tanakh in the name Madai, which there means ‘a Mede', and is found in Genesis 10:2, as well as noted in Isaiah. Madai was the son of Japheth, grandson of Noah, and so could have been in the Jaredite records. 

MANTI

Manti, the name of a hill (Alma l:15), a man, (Alma 2:22), but mainly as a land area (Alma 16:6, 17:1, 22:27, etc.), and a city (Alma 56:14, 22, 58:26, 27, 58:29, etc.). Manti was a prominent name in the Book of Mormon. The name has three elements:  Man, Mant, and the full name Manti.  In the Governor's Archive, the prefix Man, appears in the names manatu, ‘accounting', mandattu, ‘tribute', mandetu, ‘information', mannu, ‘who, whoever', manu, ‘mina' (500 grams of precious metal),  manu, ‘to recount, hand over, deliver up'. (Cole pp. 339-340) These are Semitic names, but an exact match is found in Egyptian and especially in the phrase Manti-me-he, ‘the God month is in the lead'.  Manti-me-he was a famous Egyptian, he lived bout 656 BC, considered the fourth prophet of Amun, he was buried in a lavish tomb in Thebes. Much has been written about him. (Baker p. 701). No doubt Lehi would have known or heard about this man and carried the name into the records of his people.  Like many other Book of Mormon names, the Pioneers spread names all over the west.  The city and temple at Manti, Utah, is where I was married. It never entered my mind that I would be finding the name in an ancient Egyptian source.

RABBANAH

Rabbanah, this name is found in Alma 18:13. Just think, why would Alma, who was the essential scribe, go out on a limb and actually provide the meaning of that unusual name? This is an absolute challenge!  "Now, you philologists, go see if you can find the meaning of this name and confirm that it is correct as described!" Unlike most Book of Mormon names the meaning of the name is also given: ‘powerful or great', ‘or great king'.  Just before in the texts, Ammon is considered to be the Great Spirit. So what does the name mean? It is a more complex name. The name has three parts, a prefix, Rab, then a root, Ban or Bana, and a suffix, ‘h'.  In the Governor's Archive we find the prefixes,  Rabu (A) and Rabu (B), while appearing the same, the cuniform ‘ticks' indicate they are slightly different, the first (A) means ‘great, big' exactly as interpreted in the Book of Mormon. The name is an ancient name, and is Akkadian.  (Cole p. 365) How did Joseph get that right?  The second Rabu (B) means ‘chief' , in reference to the ‘chief of a group of 40 men', and an apprentice scribe. In this since (B) would also mean ‘powerful or great', (Cole p. 365) so either one is sufficient to confirm the meaning in Alma 18:13 for the explanation for Rabbanah.  But the Book of Mormon text suggests something even more exhalted. We can look farther. The root, Ban or Bana must also contribute to the meaning of the name. It has several variations in ancient Akkadian such as Bana, banaa,  babbana, babbanu and mubanna, Bani, etc.   (Radner pp. 261-268)  The meaning of this root in all its variations includes ‘to be of good quality' ‘strong,' ‘to be of good value', ‘to be a creator', which merely emphasizes the interpretation in Alma of ‘powerful or great king' by stressing the quality of who or what is powerful or great,  must also have the characteristic of quality and superlative power.  The suffix ending is a hypocoristica ‘h' for God, which adds to the idea of quality, the elevated greatness of the individual, and the power to ‘create'.

Two names found in the Tanakh: Rab-Shakeh, which is Assyrian for Chief butler, and Rab-Saris, which is Babylonian for Chief of the Eunuchs, the prefix in both cases meaning ‘chief'. (Mandel p. 431) The root and suffix in the Book of Mormon name elevates the meaning of the prefix, Rab meaning chief, to that of a much more prominent status of power, even a King, or God, The Book of Mormon's meaning. So in a remarkable combination, the elements of the name, in Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian all mean essentially the same; though the Book of Mormon form is one of a more elevated status.  This is further confirmed by the name in West Semitic: Rabbanu, ‘the big one' and another Akkadian name:  Rabbi-ilu, ‘great is god' (Baker p. 1027) with a different suffix ending, little different in meaning than the use of ‘h'.  In ancient Akkadian, names to be politically correct, often prefixed the name with a Gods name, especially the God Assur, such as in the name Assur- bani, which means ‘Assur is the Creator' (Rander p. 158), further confirming the high status the Book of Mormon name would convey. The Aramaic, and New Testament,  Rabbi, ‘master' is similar, but not as elevated.  It is intereseting to note the great antiquity of this prefix, it shows up in the Babylonian correspondence of Esarhaddon as Rab biti, meaning ‘major domo', often with the title of Lugal or king. (Reynolds p. 191) What an incredible confirmation of a name. The Book of Mormon gave the name and a uniquely proper interpretation of the name, with its prefix, root, and suffix, going back into great antiquity.   

SHUM-SHEM-SHEUM

Shum, (a piece of Gold, Alma 11:5, a valley,  Moses 6:17), has been discussed elsewhere (Erickson Murasu 15 April, 2005).  The Hebrew elements for the name are simply ‘shm',  for Shem, ‘shm', and for the plant item Sheum, ‘shm'.  Shem (Mormon 2:20), is name of land, Mormon 6:14, and a city Alma 23:12). Sheum, (Mosiah 9:9), is an edible plant. All three names, all with the Hebrew consonants ‘shm'  mean the same thing:  ‘a name'.  (Mandel p. 492)   The names are verified to mean this and to be an authentic ancient name in the Governor's Archive in the name sumu where just two consonants, ‘sm' are employed, meaning ‘name'. (Cole p. 388) This illustrates that in different usages and different languages, the consonants Shm, or sm, mean the same thing.   Since only the name Shem shows up in the Tanakh, and since Shem is an ancient name, involved in the great patriarachal period and therefore an Adamic name; it is certain that the name Shum was included in the Brass Plates, the reason for the reference to Moses 6:17, is because the name would have been in the Brass Plates, and would have been an old name.

TUBALOTH

In the name Tubaloth, there are at least two main elements, the prefix Tub, and the suffix, aloth.  The prefix Tub is found in two names in the Tanakh: Tubal, (Genesis 10:2) and Tubal-Cain, (Genesis 4:22) (Mandel p. 523)  Mandel gives no meaning for the names, but considers them Hebrew in origin.  But in the Governor's archive, going back before Hebrew was formalized we have the prefix Tub in the name Tubu, meaning, ‘good'. Also in the name: Tubi, Tubisu, and in the idiom:  ana tubi sakanu, ‘to deem fit', where Tubi means ‘fit' easily corresponding with the meaning for Tubu, which means ‘good'.

LEMUEL:

Lemuel, (l Nephi 2:5) one of the sons of Lehi. The Hebrew consonants, ‘lm' for both the name of Lemuel and Lamon, have been discussed several times in this series, both with a hypocoristic ending for God, the ‘lm; meaning ‘why', the names both meaning ‘Why God', appropriate for their attitudes. In the Governor's Archive, there is another slant on the names in another variety of the name Lemenu, with the same elements, ‘lm', which means ‘to turn into evil, fall into misfortune, to treat badly, defame'. (Cole p. 414)  This is even a more applicable explanation for the names Lemuel and Laman, and explain even more about their attitude and actions.  Two other names fit into this picture as well, coming from old Assyria, they include the name lemnu, meaning ‘bad, evil), and lemuttu meaning ‘bad luck'. (Reynolds p. 185)  Lehi had chosen appropriately.

BILIOGRAPHY

Erickson, Einar C.,  Murasu of Nippur and the Book of Mormon. Web site 15 April 2005

.....................Elephantine Name Parallels, Web Site, 18 Feb 2005

.....................The Ancient City of Mari,   July 2005

......................The Ancient City of Kish, Aug 2005

......................Fara-Ancient Shuruppak and the Jaredites, July  2005)

Baker, Heather, D., The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol. 2/11, L-N, University of Helsinki, Finland, 2001

........................The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol. 2/1, H-K., University of Helsinki, Finland, 2000

Benz, Frank L., Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions, Rome, Biblical Institute Press, 1972

Budge, E.A. Wallis, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, Vol. l. Fredrick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, British Museum, 1920

Cole, Steven W., The Early Neo-Babylonian Governor's Archive from Nippur, Vol 114, Oriental Institute Publications, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1996

Largey, Dennis, L., Ed. Book of Mormon Reference Companion, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, Utah, 2003

Mandel, David, Who's Who in Tanakh, Ariel Books, Savyon, Israel, 2004

Miller, Madeleine S., Harper's Bible Dictionary, Harper & Row, Pub., New York, 1973

Nibley, Hugh, The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Vol. 8, FARMS, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake city, Utah, 1989

................., An Approach to the Book of Mormon, Vol., 6, FARMS, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, Utah.1988

Pagan, Joseph Martin, A Morphological and Lexical Study of Personal Names in the Ebla Texts, Archive Reali Di Ebla Studi 111,  Missione Archaeologica Italiana in Siria, University of Degli studi Di Roma, 1998

Porten, Bezalel, Archives from Elephantine, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1968

Radner, Karen,  The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol.1.1, A. University of Helsinki, Finland, 1998

....................  The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol. l.11, B-G, University of Helsinki, Finland, 1999

Reynolds, Frances, The Babylonian Correspondence of Esaraddon, State Archives of Assyria, Vol. xviii, Helsinki University Press, 2003