INTRODUCTION
Among the city states and kingdoms of ancient Mesopotamia before 2000 BC., one of the great ones was EBLA. (Weiss pp. 20-22) Great kingdoms and city sites such as MARI to the south, NAGAR and NABADA to the north- west, were linked with EBLA; along with others, were the subject of studies in this Web Site. These and other Mesopotamian sites were linked to far away ancient trade cities such as BEGRAM, TEPE FUHIOL, TILLYA TEPE (hill of gold) and AL KHANUM, all in northeast Afghanistan in the mysterious regions of the Hindu Kush Mountains, all moving their unusual precious products of Lapis Lazuli, spinel and rubies, sapphire, emeralds, tourmaline and aquamarine, iron, lead, silver and gold, lesser gemstones and other tradable goods such as salt, talc, and marble; (Bowersox, pp. 37, 65, 97, 121, 165, 167) all high priced and desirable goods, through the northwest Afghanistan city of Herat. From Herat the traffic of the trade routes went into Turkmenistan and Iran finally reached the cities of northern Mesopotamian and continued on farther east. These Afghanistan cities were fully developed urban centers at the time the tablets of EBLA were being stored on shelves in the Palace Archives, and are included in what archaeologists now call the OXUS CIVILIZATION. The first evidence for this Civilization in Afghanistan from a city that traded extensively was found at TEPE FULIOL in 1966, where excavations, frequently interrupted because of wars, have recovered thousands of artifacts including a gold bowl bearing distinctive imagery of distant Mesopotamia. “Hundreds of 2,000-year-old golden artifacts were unearthed in 1978-79,” (Covington p. 75) from the regions of northern Afghanistan. The objects reflect a mix of styles; Chinese, Indian, Siberian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Mesopotamian and Korean, as well as other sources, all traded for and picked up along the more than the 5,000 mile route of the Silk Road that was active earlier than 2200 BC and continued until 200 AD. (Covington p. 72) The chief contribution of goods from NAGAR, (See Erickson WEB site, 29 Mar 2006) a city that was tied to EBLA that sat astride the Silk Road, were grains and donkeys, the main beast of burden along with the two humped Bactrian camel that carried all of the trade goods throughout the route, which is so evocative of mystery and opulence. (Vollmer p. vii) My youngest son and I had planned a trip along the eastern portion of the Silk Road which begins at Xi’an China. My wife and I had visited this city and the eastern end of the Silk Road in 1981. See my CD on the Cave of One Thousand Buddahs, which is near the Silk Road junction at Dunhuang, where you could go the northern, most popular route, through Turfan and on to Kashgar, or turn west along the northern flanks of the Altun Shan (Shan means Mountain) to Kashgar, our planned destination. From Kashgar the route entered Russia at Sogdiana on the Zervan River, (Thurban p. 121) northeast of Samerkand, which where I had spent some time in 1984 as a guest of the Russian Government. There was the 1200 mile gap in the route along the vast and dangerous Taklimakan Desert, (Thubron pp. 8-13) that would have been next. Large leather skin bags had been found at ancient Sogdiana filled with documents. The Russian archaeologists are studying these and preparing translations, they will be of interest to the Mormons.
But NAGAR, 300 miles away from EBLA, also provided coveted entertainers called hub. Until now, archaeologists weren’t sure what kind of entertainers they were, but the lower skeleton of a ritual sacrifice suggests they were acrobats and gymnastic dancers. The recovered remains show signs of enlarged muscles, injuries from a fall and repeated jumping and turning and wearing on the foot bones identical to that of a modern ballet dancer. (Archaeology, September-October, p. 11, 2008) There is so much yet to learn about the ancients, but one thing is now becoming quite clear they had names in common with the Book of Mormon.
PART V
PART V is a continuation of the study of names that are found in the ancient texts derived from tablets recovered from the great ruin site of EBLA after 1976 and not published until more than 20 years later and are now compared with those found in the Book of Mormon. PART V does not include any new names that were translated from the ancient tablets after 1998. A new study will be made on names that became available after 1998. PART V starts with those names in the Book of Mormon that are non-Biblical beginning with ‘M’.
MANTI: MANA, MAN-AU, MANA-(SA)-U, MANA-A-A-MU, MANA-KU-TU- MANNA
MANTI is a name familiar to most Mormons. In the Book of Mormon it is a place name. It is the name of a famous Hill near the city of Zarahemla (Alma 1:15) where Nahor, the apostate and false teacher, was carried after being pronounced guilty of killing the righteous Gideon about 91 BC. There he acknowledged his false teachings and suffered an “ignominious death”. (Alma 1:2-13). It was also the name of a land and a city, located southward from the land of Gideon (Alma 17:1) here is where Alma, journeying toward the land of MANTI, met the sons of Mosiah. It was the site of a strategic battle between the armies of Moroni and the Lamanites. (Alma 43:22-42, about 74 BC) The city of MANTI was conquered by the Lamanites. (Alma 56:13-14) But the cunning strategy of Helaman (Alma 58:1-2) resulted in its recapture and the dispersement of the Lamanites. (Largey p. 531) MANTI was the most southerly land of the Nephites. (Alma 16:6) And it was the name of a Nephite soldier about 87 BC. (Alma 2:22) It is also the name of the temple in which I was married to my wife for time and all eternity.
MANTI seems to be a hypocoristicon of the theophoric name MANTIAH, the –IAH ending is an abbreviation for Jehovah. It is the Semitic form of an Egyptian proper name, e.g. MANTI-MANKHI, a prince in Upper Egypt about 650 BC. This Egyptian name is an exact match. Lehi may have been familiar with Egyptian history or the name may have even been in the Brass Plates.
The prefix elements of MAN-, at Ebla mean ‘who’. (Pagan p. 348) Sometimes the elements were extended to MANNA. Then when a suffix was added such as in the name MANNA-A-U it would mean ‘who is Hayyu?’ (Pagan p. 348) This would be the same in the names MANA-A-A-MU ‘who is Yammu?’, or MANA-KU-TU, ‘who is Gudu?’. (Pagan p. 348) However, we get another exact match to the name when we come down a few centuries into the Neo Assyrian and Egyptian names in the name MANTI-ME-HE, which means ‘the God month’. (Baker p. 701) “It is a late form of Month, god of Hermonthis.” (Nibley p. 29) MANTI ends with the suffix ‘i’ , the first person nominal suffix, and is a common West Semitic ending found among names from the Murasu documents. (Coogan p. 109; Erickson Web Site 15 April 2005) In the New World, in South America, there was an Indian group called the Manta, on the coast north of the Gulf of Guayaqil. (Reynolds p. 324) MANTI has been discussed elsewhere in the WEB SITE studies.
MIDDONI: MIDAMU, MIDANU, MIDASE, MIDAGAN,
The Land of MIDDONI was Lamanite land where Aaron, Muloki, and Ammah were imprisoned for preaching the word of God between 70 to 90 BC. (Alma 21:11:13) These Nephite missionaries suffered extremes of hunger, thirst, physical abuse and imprisonment. (Alma 20-30: 21:12-15) Ammon converted the Lamanite King Lamoni who delivered the missionaries. They were then allowed to preach freely, and the people of MIDDONI, and surrounding areas were converted and became known as the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, about 77 BC. (Alma 23:8, 10, 17: Largey p. 541) It was these peoples that played such an important and neglected role and little understood in the colonization of the southwest U.S., participating in the immense migration of 5400 men, their wives and children, who departed out of the land of Zarahemla about 55 BC and traveled north ward. (Alma 63:4) or how else could one account for the recorded traditions of the HOPI? (Cryer p. 96; Pike p. 13) This subject has been discussed elsewhere in this Web Site.
The prefix elements MID-in MIDDONI, are found in names from Ebla and in the name MIDAMU, the elements mean ‘why Damu?’ In the name MIDANU, the meaning is ‘gift’. In the names MIDASE and MIDAGAN from EBLA the meaning is ‘who’. (Pagan p. 350) In some contexts ‘who’ and ‘why’ are closely related. In the name MIDINGIR(AN), the meaning is also ‘who’. (Pagan p. 350) In the Book of Mormon name the suffix ending of –DONI, which in PHOENICIAN, is found in ‘Adoni’ meaning ‘Lord’. It was an appellative for a variety of deities in Phoenician and Punic times. MIDDONI would therefore seem to mean ‘Why the Lord?’ (Benz pp. 260-261) Later in New TESTAMENT TIMES, the term “Adoni’ became one of the designations for the Messiah, or a substitute for the name Jehovah. An ending of ‘i’ in the name is an abbreviation or hypocoristicon for Jehovah to designate which ‘Lord’ is referred to. This seems to be the case in the ancient texts of Qumran or the Dead Sea Scrolls and in Jewish practice during Old Testament times. They substituted the name of ADONI for JEHOVAH. There are Old Testament names that testify to the usage of ‘DONI’ or ‘ADONI’ for Lord: ADONI-BEZEK, the King of Bezek captured by the men of Judah and Simon, taken to Jerusalem, where he was mutilated and died about 1449 BC. The name means ‘Lord of Lightning’. (Judges l: 5-7), ADONI-JAH, son of David, heir to the throne, so Solomon had him killed. (2 Sam 3-4; l Kings 1: 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 18, 24, 24, 41, 42, 43, 49, 50, 51; 13: 13. 19, 21, 22, 23, 24). A man of this name is also found in l Ch. 3:l, 17:8, and Neh 19:14-16. ADONI-KAM, meaning ‘my Lord has risen’ was an Israelite whose descendants came from Babylon, (Ezra 2:13 and Neh. 7:18) about 536 BC. A tribute officer of Solomon was called ADONI-RAM, meaning ‘lord is high’.(l Kings 4:6: 10:3) In ancient Jerusalem there was a Canaanite called, ADONI-ZEDEK, meaning ‘Lord of Justice’ in Josh. 10:10-1: 10:3. (Mandel pp. 26-27) In all these instances the meaning is the same: ‘Lord’. By providing these names, it shows that the Book of Mormon name could have been derived from PHOENICIAN or PUNIC contacts, or the Brass Plates, or as part of their personal baggage of names which they brought with them when then came to the new land. The records of Nehemiah and Ezra were not, however, part of the Brass Plates. They were books added to the Old Testament after Lehi had departed for the New World. Jews taken captive at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem could account for the name appearing in Ezra and Nehemiah nearly 65 years after the captivity and destruction of Jerusalem Lehi and his family sought to escape!
The EBLA name of MIDAGAN means ‘why, Dagan?’ Here, again, the meaning of the prefix is ‘why’. ‘DAGAN’, was one of the many Gods of the City Kingdom. (Pagan p. 350)
MIGRON: MIGA, MIGA-DINGAR, MIGA-I(NI), MIGA-IL, MAGA-LUM, MIGIL
MIGRON is a place name taken from Isaiah 10. (2 Nephi 20:28) While a Biblical name, it is listed because like others mentioned from time to time, it demonstrates the veracity of Biblical names. The prefix MIG- means ‘who’. (Pagan p. 350) in each of the names found in the EBLA name lists, the prefix meaning is always ‘who’. (Pagan p. 350) The name was also selected because of the meaning of the EBLA name MAGA-IL is ‘who is like IL.’ IL is the abbreviation or hypocoristicon for ELOHIM, the chief god! Mormons would not find it strange for a reference to Elohim to be found in very ancient texts, all other Christian dominations would not even understand the use of ELOHIM in nearly any context. So much for the loss of an understanding of God the Father! For the Mormons, Elohim is the Father God, the Eternal god as indicated in the Doctrine and Covenants: “According to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the ETERNAL GOD of all other gods, before the world was, that should be reserved unto the finishing and the end thereof, when every man shall enter into his eternal presence and into his immortal rest.” (D&C 121:21)
MINON: MI-NA, MI-NADU, MI-NI (NI), MI-NA-IL, MI-NA-NUM (LUM), MI-NU-KURA, MI-NUM, MI-NA-I
MINON is a place name. In Alma 2:24, there is a reference to a military action involving the following of the camp of the Amlicites, in which “in the land of MINON above the land of Zarahemla, in the course of the land of Nephi, we saw a numerous host of the Lamanites, and behold, the Amilicites have joined them.” The Book of Mormon name, MINON, has two prefixes, MI, and the elements MN. In nearly all of the names from Ebla listed above, the meaning these elements is ‘why’. (Pagan p. 351) In the Ebla name MI-NA-IL, the meaning is ‘why, IL?’ (Pagan p. 351) IL is an abbreviation for Elohim, the Father of the Gods. The ancient tablets preserve the Adamic understanding of Elohim, the Father of the Gods, as stated by Joseph Smith in the King Follett Discourse, “I am right back up to the word ROSH-the HEAD FATHER OF THE GODS called a council of the Gods. The Gods came together and concocted a scheme to create this world and the inhabitants.”(Cannon p. 43; Erickson 20 Dec 2006) All of the names from Ebla except the last one, are found in Pagan. (Pagan p. 351. The last name, MI-NA-I also with the meaning of ‘why’, is found in Fronzaroli. (Franzaroli pp 244, 246) In Phoenician, the consonantal elements MN, abbreviating MTN, can mean ‘gift’. (Benz p. 356)
Because of the suggestion of a relationship with Phoenician, in particular Punic names by the reference in the Book of Mormon passage to Zarahemla and therefore the Mulekites, one might ask if the name MN, or MNN has a connection to those sources? It does! Benz lists it with Phoenician-Punic names with prepositions, and suggests that the meaning of the name is ‘from’. But the name is more particularly an Egyptian name. MIN is the name of a Deity. (Benz p. 349) MIN is, “The Great Majesty of the God…patron of Akhmim and Coptos…protector of the Road to Arabia.” (Posener p. 170) Benz also lists MN names coming from Carthage, (Benz p. 350) the postulated probable origins of the ship and colonizers that may have carried and come with Mulek to the Americas.
The closest we can get to the suffix -NON, is -NUN. Even in Hebrew the use of the ‘o’ vowel is limited. NUN is the name of a member of the tribe of Ephriam in the 14th century BC. NUN was the father of Joshua who succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelites. (Mandel p. 411) The name means “perpetuity’ (Mandel p. 411) So, the Nephite land of MINON located on the west bank of the River Sidon (Alma 2:24) was unique, having some unusual attribute about it so that one could ask a question about the land, perhaps it being held in perpetuity? The name would mean ‘why perpetuity?’ or ‘why gift?’ But are these meanings applicable here?
The suffix ending –ON is an authentic Hebrew suffix characteristic of a Hebrew hypocoristicon (abbreviation, nick name), [for a God] usually dropping a theophoric name component, and was found frequently in the old world. (Coogan p. 112)
But the name does hint that there is a more complex construction for some Book of Mormon names than we might have elicited in this study so far. Ancient Aramaic has its mysteries!
MULEK, MULOKI: MULU, MULUDU, MULI-TUM, MULU-GA-DA-SUM, MULLU-WA (PI)-DU,
MULEK, wherever the landing place of the Nephites they called Bountiful, the City of MULEK was south of it. Bountiful was on the east coast of wherever they had landed, often considered to be Guatemala, and the City of MULEK was also “on the east borders by the seashore.” (Alma 51:25-26) This passage confirms the location of these two cities on the east coast of “some place” in Central America. The internal evidence in the Boook of Mormon suggests strongly for a semi-tropic to tropic climatic condition with highlands. The absence of snow, freezing conditions, and related aspects of climate eliminates all considerations for the milieu of the Book of Mormon having been in some northern or far northern clime. MULEK was conquered by the Lamanite leader, Amalichiah. Later it was re-conquered by part of the army of the famous Captain Moroni, who with the other part of his Army pursued the Lamanites forcing them to flee towards the city of Mulek, where they were trapped between Moroni’s split armies, and were destroyed in a furious battle. (Alma 52:15-38; Largey p. 575-676).
So there was the Land of Mulek, the City of Mulek, and there was an important leader called MULEK who was the last son of King Zedekiah, most likely born a few months before the August 586 BC siege of Jerusalem. (Omni l:15; 2 Kings 25:7, Largey p. 575) The Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as the King of the Jews when he, in 597, (Kings 24:17-18) was he was only 21 years old. In 586 BC after a two year siege of Jerusalem, ending in August of that summer, Zedekiah and some of his soldiers escaped through the garden’s gate, fled toward Jericho but were captured and taken to Riblah before Nebuchadnezzar where he watched the slaying of his known children, all under 16 years old, he then has his eyes put out, then bound in chains he walked to Babylon where he died in prison. (Mandel p. 543)
In addition to the ideas presented in this writing, there is a detailed theory put forth by Sorenson. (Sorenson p. 8) And another more recentl interpretation by Chadwick. (Chadwick pp. 72-83) Chadwick presents data that permits him to conclude that the Hebrew name of Mulek was MALKIYAHU, and that a SEAL with that name on it refers to MULEK. In time, someone will make a more definitive study of the historical aspects of this important character in the Book of Mormon. But note! MULEK is known only through the Book of Mormon, but the name is an authentic Phoenician name. (Benz p. 344) The name goes back to Ugaritic Texts as well. Ugarit was a great City of the Phoenicians, the emphasis there was on metallurgy. Where did Lehi get his refined gold and silver?
Could the mother of Mulek have been Phoenician? Not being a Jew, could she have escaped the doomed city? Could she have reached the coast where her Phoenician connections provided her refuge? Could she have been able to find her way to the great Phoenician city of Carthage? There, could her son have matured and feeling threatened because all of the sons of Zedekiah had been killed, managed to get passage along with others, and colonize a place in the New World, later called Zarahemla where a descendent of that name was found by the Nephites? As a Queen, wife of a King, did she have means to finance such an expedition? Did she and those who brought her and her son and others to the new land all stay, or did those who conveyed her there, in part, return to their home port? Was there ever any further contact? It is important to note that “The Lord did bring Mulek into the” the new world. (Hel. 6:10) “The people of Zarahemla, who was a descendant of Mulek, and those who came with him into the wilderness…(Mosiah 25:2) eventually merged with the Nephites so there is Jewish and Phoenician DNA in most Lamanites, at least those who survived in the lands. We would like to know more about such things, but all we have is the astounding story that a son of Zedekiah escaped from Jerusalem and ended up in the New World and all of his descendants mixed with the Nephites. How could Joseph Smith have concocted such a story? Now the name studies are proving he got it right the first time!
The name MULEK means “king”, which rightly he was. (Benz p. 344) The name MULOKI, is also a Phoenician name. The prefix parallels to EBLA names such as MULOKI means ‘to rule’, certainly a kingly duty. MULOKI appears in Alma 20:3, and he was an effective preacher as indicated in Alma 21:11, preaching with the Aaron the brother of Ammon. The Lord told Ammon not to go up to the Land of Nephi where there were those who would seek to take his life, but to go to the Land of Middoni: “for behold thy brother Aaron and also MULOKI and Ammah are in prison.” (Alma 20:2) Both names no doubt come from the baggage of names brought over by the Mulekites, and eventually crept into Nephite usage, but only after the MULEKITES had been found..
However at EBLA, centuries earlier, the Semitic elements MUL- meant something different. In the EBLA names, MULU and MULUDU, both mean ‘foal’. The EBLA name MULU-GA-DA-SUM means ‘sacred foal’, and the complex name MULU-WA-(PI)-DU means ‘the foal is unique’. This illustrates that some prefixes to names under go a change in meaning down through the centuries, but the meaning of the name at the time MULEK and his colony arrived in the New World, meant ‘King’.
NAHOM: NA-AM, NA-A-MA, NA-HA-LU, NA-IM
NAHOM is a place name and first appears in the Book of Mormon in l Ne 16:34. The place, while Lehi’s family was on their wilderness journey when Ishmael died. Ishmale was buried in the place called Nahom, was buried. (l Nephi 16:34) The sojourn at Nahom was a low point in the journey through the wilderness. The death of Ishmael caused his daughters to “mourn exceedingly” and to murmur against Lehi because of their many afflictions. (l Ne 16:34-36) “The name NAHOM may be related to the Hebrew words naham, to “to groan” or naham, to “be sorry, console oneself’. (Brown et al., 625, 636; Largey p. 580) This name has been discussed in previous studies of this web site. But the Ebla names are nearly 1600 years older and may reflect a slight different but related meaning in the more ancient Aramaic usages. The name from Ebla of NA-HA-LU is also a place name; it contains the prefix elements of NAH-, which means ‘Wadi’ certainly fitting as to the place where they buried Ishmael. But the name NA-AM from Ebla pronounced similarly to NAHOM, means ‘grace’. In all the names with the prefix NA-AM that is the meaning. Grace comes close and is related to the idea of consolation and groaning attached to the name at a later date. The deep meaning of Grace is tied into the unfathomable depth of reality exhibited by the extension of Christ’s love.
“The Wadi Naham (also called wadi Harib Naham) is found just south of wadi Jizl …close to the ancient rail between Ma’in and Marib. Furdat Naham, meaning “stony hills of Naham,” is marked on the IU.S. CIA ‘map of Yeman of 1970…and is itself only a few miles form the same road.” (Potter p. 113) “Wadi Naham is less than two miles form the modern road that runs from wadi Jawf to Marib, the modern road following the same route as the caravan route known as Darb El Ashraf, the old incense trail.” (Potter page 114) Lehi tarried for the space of a time. (l Nephi 16:33) This expression is a Hebrew equivalent for a growing season. (Hilton p. 92) From Nahom the caravan of Lehi’s family turned eastward and traveled onto Bountiful, their departure point by boat to the New World. (Hilton p. 51, l Nephi 17:1-5) By this time they had spent eight years in the wilderness. (l Nephi 17:4) This was the destination of Nephi and others after the episode of the broken bow. The place Nahom in the Book of Mormon is importent, there an altar has been found there with the consonants of NHM carved in the stones. The various expeditions of Mormon scholars tracing out Lehi’s trail consider this an important juncture and location in the episode of Lehi’s journey. (Hilton p. 95) FARMS also has a documentary on this search.
NEHOR, NEHORS: NEHAR, NEHARA
NEHOR is an ancient place name for a Jaredite land area. (Ether 7:5) It is also the name, in the Jaredite record, of a City. (Ether 7:9) It does not appear in the Book of Mormon record until after the translation of the Jaredite plates. The Nephites must have noted that name in the ancient records and may have used it a number of times. In Alma it is the name of a nefarious man, NEHOR an evil man and murderer, (Alma 1:15, 220, 6:7) and an extreme apostate, (Alma14:16, 19, 15:15: 16:11) with followers after the so called Order of Nehor who were called NEHORS. (Alma 21:4) NEHOR was an apostate Nephite who first introduced Priest craft into Zarahemla (Alma: l:12) about 91 BC, powerfully enticing others to do evil and established a church to promote his cause. He taught a course very like the Evangelical Churches of today. The priests should be crowed pleasers, popular and not be required to work, but be supported by the people. He declared eternal life would be given to all men, so none, sinner or saint, should fear or tremble. (Largey p. 583) One was entitled to make a business of religion and enforce it by the sword. There was no accountability in his religion, no responsibility for sin. Gideon, an elderly teacher in the church, stood up to him, so Nehor killed him. (Alma 1:7-10, 14-15). NEHOR was put to death for his actions. (Alma 1:10, 14-15)
In the Book of Mormon there are three discussions regarding diverse opponents of the Nephites, these include: SHEREM, NEHOR, and KORIHOR, each had his own persuasive tactics and style, but all lead to the destruction of people along a broad road of semantics. (Welch Chap. 22)
The two names from EBLA, NEHAR and NEHARA, (Pagan p. 355) are almost an identical match, given only the difference of using an ‘o’ in the suffix ending rather than an ‘a’ as in the Book of Mormon name. Most often, changing the vowels does not change the meaning of the name, sometimes it might change the enunciation of it. The name seems to mean ‘light’. (Pagan p. 355)
“O’ NAMES:
In the name lists from EBLA there are no names that begin with an ‘O’. There are a number of unique names starting with the letter ‘O’ in the Book of Mormon, but they re not found in the lists from EBLA.
“P” NAMES:
There are a small number of names that begin with the letter “P” in the name lists from EBLA, but no Book of Mormon name was among them. There also were no prefix parallels.
“Q” NAMES:
There are no names in the Book of Mormon that start with a “Q” This letter was not used by some ancient Semitic speaking peoples. The Book of Mormon is consistent in this regard, and there were no names in the EBLA name lists starting with the letter.
This concludes the comparison with the names found in the Book of Mormon with those found in the translated tablets recovered from the ruins of EBLA from 1976 to 1998 up to the names beginning with letters of the alphabet up to ‘Q’. PART 6 will conclude the study of names beginning with names that begin with ‘R’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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