THE AKKADIAN EMPIRE
The map that accompanies this entry shows a number of cities that have been referred to in previous studies and some that will be referred to in this study, PART 4. In the lower right hand part of the map the cities of Babylon, Kish and Aggad are located. Aggad, which itself may be part of ancient Babylon , became the capital of the Akkadian Kingdom or Empire. The great king was Sargon, who was discussed in previous portions of this series, had made a conquest of or threatened most of what is on this map. In the lower left is the ancient city of Megiddo where in the early years of the coming Millennium will be the headquarters of the 200 million warriors who will be assembled there and near Jerusalem before they kill the two authorities or prophets who will have been staving off destruction, but after a three and half year siege the armies kill them and sack the city of Jerusalem. In the center left is the city of Ebla often referred to in various studies on this Web Site where names in the Book of Mormon were found on tablets recovered from the excavations there, names that are also found in the Akkadian Dictionary. The discovery of Ebla forever changed Mesopotamian history. Above Ebla is the city of Karkamish, a quay on the Euphrates River across which the Jaredites may has passed going north as they departed the region; at least Abraham crossed this quay on his way to the promised land. The ancient city of Haran where Abraham had taken up residence after leaving Ur, was just east of the Quay. The suffix name in Karkamish is Kamish, the Book of Mormon variation is CHEMISH with a C' and 'h' instead of a 'K' and an 'e' instead of an 'a'. The name is found in the records of the descendants of OMNI in the Book of Mormon. (Largey pp .201; 181) When that names comes up alphabetically in this series of studies, more details on the ancient quay and the city of Karkamish will be provided. The ancient city of Mari is approximately located just below the center of the map, and the important ancient trade city of URKESH is shown just right of the center of the map. Urkesh will be discussed below. Nearby is Tell Brak the subject in this web site of a study on names found there. Tell Brak was the site of massive burials of young men, grizzly evidence of the cost of warfare and civil war during its history. (McMahon p. 28) The whole region has yielded tablets with many of the Book of Mormon names on them. As the study of this entire region continues many more names will be found on the tablets, it will take a while to fully exhaust the potential of finding names of the Book of Mormon on old tablets from previous excavations and work in progress in the region.
THE HURRIANS
The earliest written sources provide information about political and linguistics subjects of interest situated in northern and eastern ancient Assyria as well as western upper Mesopotamia and reveal that ancient Hurrian states already existed in those districts about 2200 BC, about or just after the departure from the region of the Jaredites. "Linguistic criteria...seem to indicate that the ancestors of the...Hurrians had already inhabited the...regions of eastern Anatolia [Turkey] for several centuries. Hurrian is closely related to the language of the Urarteans...attested in inscriptions of the Armenian-Kurdish highlands....Hurrian and Urartean had...separated by the end of the third millennium...they are distantly related to the Northeast Caucasian languages. The [Ancient] Sumerians probably borrowed their word for "copper-smith" [Karkemish]...from proto-Hurrian." (Wilhelm p. 1244) The Hurrians will be the subject of a future more detailed study. Their language greatly influenced Akkadian, Assyrian and Hittite languages.
As a consequence of the Campaigns of NARAM-SIN, grandson of SARGON, the Hurrian minor states were brought under the domination of or into the sphere of influence of the Akkadian Kings. The power and glory of this dynasty left a deep impression on the Hurrian-speaking periphery, the Akkadian conquerors were remembered for centuries. The epic traditions of the Hurrians, especially the Myth of Kurparanzakh, are connected with the city of Akkad. The rulers of Urkesh (or Urkish, note the KISH suffix) had inscriptions engraved in bronze or stone, which end in curse formulas modeled after those of Akkadian curses. Akkadian was cultivated as the written language, especially for documents, while Hurrian was employed as the language of daily life. That is one of the reasons to expect to find very ancient names to show up in the records of the Jaredites, which would help confirm the Book of Ether is a priceless authentic ancient record and therefore Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true. Both the Akkadian and Hurrian languages preserved, after the Tower of Babel, names that can now be recognized. If the Book of Mormon is fiction, there should be no such parallels. But as these studies already show, there is going to be a huge series of parallels in Akkadian. However, Hurrian was able to displace Akkadian as the language of literature only in Syria and Anatolia. (Sasson p. 1244) In some future study it can be expected that Book of Mormon names will be found on tablets to be recovered from other ruins in those areas.
Barely a hundred years later, and long after the Jaredites had departed, and after the end of the Akkadian Empire, Shulgi, the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur, (2113-2006) fought a long and tenacious battle against the Hurrian states on the northern periphery of his realm. (Saggs p. 415) A great number of prisoners of war are listed, so numerous Hurrian personal names begin to appear in the records of Sumer. Sumerian name parallels have not been fully exploited as yet, so this is another area for further study. Among the minor states ruled by Hurrian princes mentioned in the texts of the Third Dynasty of Ur, is the later Assyrian capital of Nineveh, modern sites of Tell Kuyuhjik and Nebi Yunus. Thousand of tablets have been recovered from these areas. These two sites when investigated and some of their tablets translated, will also yield parallels to Book of Mormon names. A new ASSYRIAN DICTIONARY has been recently published and will be used in the future for a special study: the ASSYRIAN DICTIONARY AND THE BOOK OF MORMON NAMES. The earliest Hurrian texts seem at present to be found in the inscription of Tish-atal of Urkesh, which is probably to be dated to the twenty-first century. Chronology of events at this time in history is still being worked out. The Book of Mormon puts some constraints on some aspects of the Chronology.
Letters and documents of the Old Assyrian trading colonies of the twentieth and nineteenth centuries BC reflect the linguistic situation there. At that time practically no Hurrian's lived in Kanesh (modern Kultepe, upper left hand corner of Map ), which was another ancient center of trading activity. Hurrian names were common south of the anti-Taurus Mountains, near where much later the apostle Paul was born, in this period. No one knows yet when Hurrians migrated into the area between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. The evidence from the vast tablet finds at Ebla of the twenty-fourth and twenty-third centuries give no indication of Hurrians in this region. At present, the thinking is that the Hurrians had their earliest home in eastern Anatolia from which they expanded south and southwest and father west, so one looks east and west from Khattusha in Anatolia for Hurrian settlements. (See Map & Sasson p. 1245) Centuries later, Hurrians show up in Syria beside Canaanites. So, much more yet to be learned.
OBSIDIAN AT URKESH
Recent excavations at the massive site of Urkesh in modern Syria, are changing ideas about trade networks at the height of the Akkadian Empire. Urkesh sits near a mountain pass by the border between the Bronze Age Hurrian and Akkadian empires-putting it in a natural position to be a trading center. (Zorich p. 13) One of the ancient commodities of trade was obsidian. Ellery Frahm of the University of Sheffield and Joshua Feinberg of the University of Minnesota have been working with others at Urkesh for decades. They found three unremarkable pieces of obsidian in the palace courtyard. Obsidian can be dated, if a knowledge of the climate affecting a given area is known and conditions of burial of the objects, by measuring the amount of hydration that has accumulated. In the American southwest a micron of hydration often suggests a period of 625 years for each micron of thickness. The ratio of argon and potassium and iron content can be plotted in ternary diagrams, or other trace elements that are peculiar to a given volcanic source of the obsidian also helps identify sources. I have mapped for the BLM and Forest Services of Nevada and Utah more than 130 volcanic sources of obsidian to determine ancient Native American trade routes and sources of obsidian that show up in ruins throughout the southwest and on extensive debitage sites. Obsidian was used in Urkesh and sites throughout Mesopotamia, most coming from volcanoes in what is now eastern Turkey and ancient Armenia. "Frahm ...tested...[the obsidian pieces] analyzing the magnetic properties of 97 pieces of obsidian found throughout the city and learned that three of the pieces came from a volcano located much farther away in central Turkey. These pieces were dated to around 2440 b.c. , about the time that Emperor Naram Sin expanded the Akkadian Empire to its peak influence. Frahm believes that the Akkadians were expanding their trade networks unto new territory. The three pieces of obsidian may have been from items traded along with more valuable goods, such as metals [gold and silver]. " According to Frahm "it shows that they were tapping into a trade network at that time that they weren't using before or after." (Zorich p. 13) The three obsidian pieces are a light gray and where chipped thinly so their edges are almost transparent. The date of 2440 b.c. is the date they were chipped so a fresh surface could be hydrated. The actual volcanic source is probably much older. This was ten years after Naram-Sin had laid waste the city of Ebla.
From our room in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, we could see, looking west. the towering 13,418 foot high legendary peak of Mt. Ararat (Aragats). The streets and road shoulders of Yerevan and surrounding areas are flecked with obsidian. The curving road from Yerevan northward to Leninakan, around the northeast skirt of the great mountain, along the Araxes River, took us past many volcanic sources of obsidian, many of them being quarried not far from the road for their obsidian. At one village I purchased twenty one necklaces of polished obsidian which I gave to the older girls of my family, children and grand children. I suppose some of them at sometime in the future may wonder what the old man had in mind giving them some black glassy rocks to wear. Other will know the role Obsidian played in my life and the great pleasure I had in mapping and sampling thousands of Native American sites and villages and finding obsidian sources and mapping out trade lanes in the American Southwest. Traveling in Armenia permitted me to collect samples from many obsidian sources for research I intended to be engaged in some day. Some of the Urkesh obsidian came from volcanic sources that had once been included in the earlier larger land area of the ancient kingdom of Urartu, now reduced to little Armenia. Obsidian from Armenian sources have been found throughout the Middle and Near eastern archaeological sites. The ancients used it because it is twenty times sharper than steel. Its dark glassy appearance gives it a mysterious aura. The Mayans used it extensively.
Again the Akkadian Dictionary will be referred to for parallels to the Book of Mormon names. The Book of Mormon name is given on the left, on the right are the Akkadian Dictionary names that are close or nearly exactly the same. Recall that the vowels are used interchangeably most of the time. Both the Jaredites and the Ancient Akkadians often added an 'm' at the end of the name or word because they liked the sound, a preference unique to the time period or the Adamic language. This was callled mimation. Mimation was discontinued not long after the Jaredites left the region. The Jaredites never returned so when the Jaredite records were translated the names retain the characteristics of their ancient usages and origins. Did the Lord design this?
THE NAMES
ABLOM: ABLU, ABLU (-M)
ABLOM is a Place name of a Jaredite place or city. (Eth 9:3) It was located by the seashore to which king Omer fled with his family after his kingdom was over thrown by the secret combinations of AKISH [also a Jaredite name, which will be discussed elsewhere in this series]. The Lord had warned Omer in a dream of this danger. (Eth (9:1-3) The elements in the name ABLOM include the prefix AB-, and a suffix -LO-M. Anciently, the suffix -LO would not have included an 'O' because ancient Akkadian did not use this vowel, the ancient name would have used the vowels 'a, e, i, or u'. The vowels 'a, e, and i' could be used, but would change the meaning somewhat, and they are rather harsh. The vowel 'U, or u' has a sound akin to 'O, o", so in Akkadian we find the name ABLU, meaning 'dry, dried', referring to meat, wood, asphalt, hay, even a City by the sea which is dry. The addition to the ending of a name with a consonant 'M, m' is a characteristic of ancient names around the time of the departure of the Jaredites and a few hundred years afterwards. In ABLUM we have the use of 'u' because there was no 'o' and the ancient practice of adding an 'm', or mimation. As noted the addition to the ending of a name or word with '-M, -m' is called mimation. Nibley, referring to Jirku, a scholar of ancient names and languages, "has shown that mimation was still current in the Semitic dialects of Palestine and Syria between 2100 and 1800 B.C., when the nominative case still ended in '-m'. From Egyptian and Hittite it is now clear that the dialects of Palestine and Syria dropped this mimation in the first half of the second millennium B.C....preserved in the Bible only in a few pre-Hebraic words....in the mysterious and archaic words Urim and Thummim... the Book of Mormon favors '-m' endings for Jaredite names. So, the Jaredites must have taken mimation with them some time before 2100 B,C, [because soon after]... the change to nunation." (Nibley p. 288) This information puts limitations on the dates proposed for the departure of the Jaredites from their homeland near ancient Kish. If you turn to pages in the Akkadian Dictionary, you will find many names and words ending with '-m'. Mimation seems to have been prevalent in the Mesopotamian regions soon after the flood, since the Jaredite language was not confounded then the Adamic language must have been also characterized by mimation. Languages with mimation would seem then to have a closer relationship with the Adamic tongue after the Tower of Babel. Names and words ending with '-n', nunation, became prevalent after 1800 BC. "Nunation...is extremely common in the Book of Mormon proper names....which in Lehi's day [600 BC] was a sign of conservatism and most frequently found among the desert people...ending in -n has left traces in all Semitic languages, but mostly among the desert people, being retained completely in classical Arabic." (Nibley p. 288) "The Jaredite nation is unknown in world history to any but Latter-day Saints...hidden by the Almighty from all other peoples...an early American nation for most of its existence." (Petersen p. 1) Now we know, there really were Jaredites.
So, in Akkadian, without an 'o' to construct a name, then a 'u' would be used, so ABLU(M) would be the same as ABLOM with the 'm' being added. It is a matter of mimation, something Joseph would have known little or nothing about in his day, but the Book of Mormon is not a work of fiction, and the names are real and correct for the time and place represented for their origins and beginnings. The occurrence of mimation or the use of '-m' endings in Book of Mormon names, especially in Jaredite names, is a certification that the Book of Mormon names are authentic and therefore the Book of Mormon cannot be a work of fiction. A truly trained specialist in languages and ancient words and names could make more of this than I, and perhaps someday that will happen.
The prefix AB-, which means 'father, or daddy', common to all of the Semitic languages, occurs in both Babylonian and West Semitic Names in particular documents from MURASU (Coogan p. 67), and the ancient city of MARI (Hufman p. 154) documents. AB- as a prefix is also discussed elsewhere in these studies. (See earlier studies in this series on those areas) See the web site entry on MARI.
AHA , AHAH: AH, AHA-AHA, AHE, AHH, AHIA, AHIS, AHI, AHL, AHM, AHR, AHU
That list of names can create a nightmare or something. AHA appears in the Book of Mormon in Alma 16:5 about 81 BC. At the time of the destruction of the city of Amonihah by the Lamanites who took many people hostage, the Chief Captain, Zoram, leads the Nephites to victory over the Lamanites. Zoram had two sons, Lehi and AHA, who were officers in the army under their father, and who assisted their father in the insuing battles. Zoram could have obtained the name AHA from the names found in the Book of Ether. The name AHAH is also found in genealogical records of the Jaredites. AHAH first appears in Ether l:9 "And Etham was the son of AHAH, and AHAH was the son of Seth. (Ether l:10) AHAH also appears in Ether 11:10-11, and he is listed as No. 40 in the posterity of the Jared. (Largey p. 431) The Jaredite records had been available since their translation by Mosiah, the Seer, who had the Urim and Thummim, first there was the carved stone with the information on it of Coriantumer and his people (Omni l:20-21) about 130 BC, and then the gold plates of the Jaredites, about 92 BC, (Mosiah 28:11-19; 8:8-9), which contained the genealogy of Jared. Both AHA and AHAH have the prefix AH-, the common root, as noted below, found in Semitic names found at Nippur and Mari, flourishing cities at the same time as the city Kish and the Jaredites. The suffix ending -A or -AH, is theophoric and represents Jehovah, thus this Jaredite name contains the abbreviated Jehovah element. The theophoric elements and abbreviations have been discussed elsewhere in these studies. The name would also mean 'brother of the Lord'. But who ever taught we are all brothers of the Lord, or that he is our Elder Brother, the eldest in the family. The First Spirit Man, the First Spirit. The Mormons were not, the Jews were. (Odeberg p. 117-122)
The name AHA is a real Akkadian word and name. (Black p. 6) This name also has the prefix of AH-, which is found in over fifty names, place names, and words in ancient Akkadian. (Black pp. 6-10) In the name AHA there is also a prefix of AHA- that is found in more than twenty names and words, each with a different meaning depending on the nature of the suffix. (Black pp. 6-7) The prefix AH- found in more than 65 names and their variations, the meaning of the names defined by the suffix. (Black pp. 6-9) As time went on this prefix became less used. In later Neo-Assyrian, the prefix AHA- is found in fifteen names with additional variations and again, the meaning is defined by the suffix. By the time the Hebrew Tenakh, or scriptures, was formalized there were only eight names with the prefix of AHA-, (Mandel pp. 29-37) Most of these would have been available on the Brass Plates. However, in Hebrew there are many names with the prefix of AHA- The Hebrew Dictionary has 32,000 entries. In time we will get to it.
The prefix AHA- is an Old Akkadian name or word AHA and has the meaning of 'one by one', (Radner p. 56) but in Neo-Assyrian AHA it is a hypocoristicon, based on West Semitic 'AH, or modified with a suffix ending of 'u', to AHU in Old Akkadian, meaning 'brother', which is the common meaning in most Semitic languages, such as in the name AH-ABI, 'the father's brother'. As noted, in Akkadian there are only four vowels: e, i, a and u, there is no 'o', and no words that begin or end with the letter 'c'. More than a thousand years later Hebrew included the use of the vowel 'o' and words and names that began with 'o'. Hebrew also includes words that began with and end with the letter 'c'. The ancient Adamic language must have included both, based on what names are included in the Tenakh. The Tenakh is the Jewish Bible.
Let's look at the names and words that are formed by the dominant elements in the Book of Mormon names: AHE, AHI, AHA and AHU. Remember in Akkadian there are no names beginning with 'O or o' and this vowel is not used in Akkadian words or names. The elements AHE, mean 'separately, by itself'' are rare. There are only three words or names in Akkadian, so far found, that have AHE in the construct. (Radner p. 7) The elements AHI are used in only seven Akkadian words and names, each modified by the suffix that is used. (Black pp. 7-8) The name AHI is referred to in Neo-Assyrian as having the meaning 'brother', (Radner p. 62) and is in some 50 words and names, where an added suffix provides modification of the meaning, in most instances, however, they refer in some aspect to 'brother'. (Radner pp. 62-68) A thousand years later the prefix AHI is found in more than 22 names in the Tanakh, again, in most instances, involving the meaning of 'brother'. (Mandel pp. 38-44) As in Neo-Assyrian, the same name was repeated and held by many individuals over a long historical period of time.
AHU as used in Akkadian words and names, mostly in rare instances, also has the meaning 'brother', e.g. AHU(M) means 'brother' with or without the mimation. (Black pp. 8-9) AHU is also a specific element or root in Akkadian that does mean 'brother'. (Hess pp. 178, 214) But the different suffixes used modifies the meaning in fifteen names found in the Akkadian dictionary. To the element or prefix AHU, the Akkadian Dictionary adds the mimation or 'm' ending discussed above for the name Ablom. This mimation is a significant feature of Jaredite names and specifically is restricted to a certain historical time period . (Nibley p. 288) A few hundred years later, in Neo-Assyrian, the prefix and name AHU occurs in more than 130 names and words where, in most instances, the meaning is related to 'brother'. (Radner 68-88) In ancient Egyptian records the exact name AHA is found. The first pharaoh carried the name which means 'warrior' and it is a common Egyptian word . (Nibley p. 25) As noted above, the Commander in Chief of the Nephites, Zoram, had two sons, one he named AHA. Did he select the name from ancient Jaredite records because the name meant Warrior, and would typify a military name for a son whose father was a commander? This would assume Zoram had been a commander for a long time, enough time to raise at least one son to a commanding position in his armies.
AKISH: AKI, AKIA, AKILRTU, AKILUM, AKITUM, AKKAD, AKBARU
The name AKISH first appears in the Book of Mormon in Ether 8: 10. The name occurs at least fifteen times in the Book of Ether. While many names in the Book of Ether or the Record of the Jaredites appeared in the body of the Book of Mormon after the discovery, recovery and translation of the gold plates that make up the Jaredite record, this much used name did not appeal to any of the readers until after access to the ancient text became available. In the genealogy of Jared, the 14th descendant was also called Jared, he had a daughter who married a man with the name of AKISH by whom she had two children. (Largey p. 431) AKISH became a Jaredite King, he was the wicked son of Kimnor, as well as the husband of Jared's daughter. Lucifer had these families by the tail. AKISH was used by Jared in a scheme to restore Jared to the throne he had lost to his father, Omer. There were ancient records that contained secret plans how to obtain kingdoms and great glory, influenced by these evil records, the unnamed daughter proposed to her father that he send for AKISH, and after she had danced before him and pleased him, he would desire her for his wife. This was so. When AKISH asked Jared for permission to marry her, Jared would only grant the request if AKISH would murder Omer. (Ether 8:10) AKISH agreed to do so. He gathered Jared and all his kinsfolk into a house and administered to them the secret oaths binding the group to the plot to assassinate Omer. (Ether 8:113-15). The Lord warned Omer in dream, and he with his family departed from the land (Ether 9:3) Jared was crowned king and AKISH married Jared's daughter, but AKISH's ambition exceeded his desire to simply be married to Jared's daughter, he used the same secret society to kill Omer, then to kill his father-in-law Jared, and thereby he became the next king. (Ether 9:4-6) The story has all the makings for an extreme modern tale of intrigue and murder. But there is more. AKISH was a very cruel and obsessed man, imprisoning one of his own sons because of jealousy and starving him to death. (Ether 9:7). His people and his own sons mirrored his wickedness. Offering them money, AKISH's sons lured the more part of the people after them, (Ether 9:11) dividing the people and initiating a long war that ended in the destruction of all the people save it were thirty souls who fled with the house of Omer to safety. (Ether 9:12; Largey p. 32)
AKISH is also the name of a wilderness, a Jaredite region into which the armies of Coriantumr pursued Gilead the brother of Jared and his forces. The battle at AKISH left many thousands dead. Coriantumr laid siege to the wilderness, but Gilead gained the upper hand by escaping during the night, killing some of Coriantumr's drunken troops, and placing himself on Coriantumr's throne in the land of Moron. Coriantumr recovered in the wilderness and gained strength then traveled to the land of Moron to give battle to Lib, who succeeded Gilead to the throne after Gilead's assassination. Eventually Lib prevailed and drove Corinatumr back into the wilderness of AKISH. (Ether 13:3-14; Largey p. 32-33)
The Jaredite names, AKISH and KISH are both found in the old World, where they are of very great antiquity. AKISH is the Egyptian -Hittite name for Cyprus. (Nibley p. 289) As noted below by Huffman the name elements of AK- and AKI- may be related to Hurrian influence. AKKI, was the farmer or peasant who rescued the abandoned baby SARGON, he became the first great emperor of ancient Mesopotamia. (Storm p. 606) and established the Dynasty of Agade 2371-2300. (Saggs p. 415)
The name element in AKISH, of AK- ,is found among Amorite personal names on tablets from the ancient city of Mari, also discussed on this web site, and may be either HURRIAN or AKKADIAN and was likely a theophoric construct. (Huffman p. 161) The northern tribes, including portions of Manassah were in contact with the Amorites. Names from Amoritic contacts could have been included in the Brass Plates and thus account for their origins in the Book of Mormon. There is an Amorite Dictionary which we will get to some time as well.
ALMA: ALMA-NU(M), ALMA-NATU, ALMA-NU, ALMA-TTU(M), ALAM-ATU(M)
The name ALMA, first appears in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 17:2 as one of the priests of King Noah who is converted by the attitude and directness of doctrines and defenses of Abinadi the Prophet. Alma later becomes the restorer of the Church in his day, and the author of one of the longest and most profound doctrinal books of the Book of Mormon. (Shapiro p. 34) Some of the deepest and most spiritually stirring experiences I have ever felt were from the reading of portions of the Book of Alma. Much criticism has come from this feminine name contained in the Book of Mormon and ascribed to a male prophet. Names ending in -a- in English and even Spanish, are traditionally feminine. My son Ty, well informed on the Book of Mormon, while giving firesides over the years, often asked for a raise of hands of all women with names ending in -a. He would often get as many as twenty responders. When men were asked to respond, invariably there were none or only one or two who were embarrassed to raise their hands. Ty's wife's grandmother's name was Alma, she was not a Mormon.
Nibley wrote: "Roman priests have found in this obviously Latin and obviously feminine name-(who does not know that Alma Mater means 'fostering mother'?) -gratifying evidence of the ignorance and naivete of the youthful Joseph Smith-how could he have been simple enough to let such a thing get by? At least his more sophisticated followers should have known better! It is therefore gratifying to announce that at the extreme end of the Cave of Letters, on the north side of the Nahal Haver, between three and four o'clock of the afternoon of 15 March 1961, professor Yadin put his hand into a crevice in the floor of the cave and lifted out a goat-skin bag containing a woman's materials for mending her family's cloths on their sad and enforced vacation, and hidden away under the stuff, at the very bottom of the bag, was a bundle of papyrus rolls wrapped in a cloth. And among them was a deed to some land near En-Gedi (the nearest town to the cave) owned by four men, one of whom signed his name as "ALMA the son of Judah." The deed is reproduced in color on page 177 of the book, [by Yadin] and there at the end of the fourth line from the top, as large as life, is A-l-m-a ben Yehudah, which Professor Yadin sensibly renders "Alma" with no reservations." (Nibley, Vol. 8, pp. 281-282) Yadin provided additional information about those signing the deed which included: "Tehina son of Shimeon and ALMA, son of Yehudah, both of Luhith in the coastal district of 'Agaltain, now residents of En-Gedi." (Yadin p. 176) The deed was in a long sheet of papyrus consisting of twenty-six lines with about eight words to a line. The deed began: "On the twenty-eighth of Marheshvan, the third year of Shimieon bar Kosiba, President of Israel, at En-gedie. Of their own free will, on this day... four parties signed to divide up a lease on land they held together." (Yadin p. 176) The discoveries were made in caves near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, but the documents were dated about 115 AD, while the Scrolls were much earlier.
The name element ALMA- occurs as a prefix in the above listed names found in the Akkadian Dictionary, (Black p. 13) where the name ALMANU(M), with two variations: ALMANUTU and ALMATTU, and as a Divine Name and in astronomy, a star. The meanings of the name is "widower" referring to a man who has lost his wife in death, and was found on tablets recovered from Mari. Thus the name ALMA is a masculine name and is very ancient. (Black p. 13) But in ancient Akkadian, the suffix can change the meaning to feminine. In the Akkadian dictionary, there is the name ALMANUTU refers to a widow, who has lost her husband in death. So, anciently it was used for as a male and a female name. In New Babylonian the name ALMATTU(M) refers to a "Widow". The suffix end of TTU makes the name female, note also the ancient use of mimation by the adding to the ending an '-m', a common thing to do in ancient Akkadian and at Ebla, Mari, and elsewhere (Black p. 13) in that time period, suggesting that the name was transmitted down to the Nephites in the Brass Plates, because the name appears in the Book of Mormon before there is access to the Jaredite Records. So at that early date (2300 BC) the name was feminine and masculine depending on the suffix or name ending. The name ALMA has been discussed in the studies on EBLA on this Web Site, where an ancient queen was also known as ALMA, but also male notables carried the name. From the ancient NUZI sources the name refers to a "widow's allowance". (Black p. 13) In Biblical Hebrew the LM consonant construct means "to conceal" or "to cover" and seems to be male. The name ALMA does not appear in the Jewish Tenakh. In Aramaic ALMA is interpreted as "eternity". (Carlton p. 5) My son Ty learned from John Tvetdnes, in Jerusalem, in 1975, that ALMA, may also be interpreted as meaning "strong arm", which is a good description of ALMA as a great prophet. In Phoenician studies included in this Web Site, the consonants 'LM' may refer to 'Gods' and have been found outside of Phoenician and Punic inscriptions. (Benz p. 267) There is also another form of the name, ALMU, found in the Akkadian dictionary, the vowels -u- and -a- being interchangeable at times. The meaning of ALMU is an 'epithet of deity' reflecting the Phoenician usage. (Black p. 13) So the Book of Mormon usage is correct in applying ALMA as a male name long before any of these other discoveries were made. Joseph had got it straight the first time, again!
Because the name appears in the Book of Mormon at about 150 BC when King Noah was setting up his dictatorship which included a group of priests and advisors among which was Alma, and before the discovery of the Jaredite record, most likely the name was preserved in the Brass Plates with a long and ancient history and it remains a mystery about when, with whom and details of the transmission of the name down to the Book of Mormon.
AMAL-EKI, AMAL-EKITE, AMAL-ICKIAH, AMAL-ICKAITE: AM-. AMA-, AMALIS, AMALITU, AMALU, AMALUBUKKU, AMALUKTU
AMALEKI first appears in the Book of Mormon in Omni 1:12 as the son of Abinadom, and then in five other places. (Shapiro p. 38) The name has at least five name elements: AM, AMA, AMAL, ML, and MLK. The name element AM may be both a prefix, as in this case, and as a suffix meaning 'to me' in the Akkadian Dictionary. (Black p. 13) In the Book of Mormon there are 26 names with the AM- as a prefix element. (Book of Mormon p. 533) It is found as a common element in many Semitic languages and Egyptian in particular. In the Akkadian dictionary there are more than 100 names with the prefix AM- and can be referred to for details in Black's work. (Black pp. 15-16) The same element is contained in more than 125 names in the Neo-Babylonian Dictionaries that followed the Akkadian empire. (Radner pp. 97-109) The elements -AM as a suffix in Akkadian means 'to me'. Black p. 13) The prefix elements AMA- are found in more than 30 names in Akkadian with variable meanings depending on the suffix. (Black pp. 13-14) The name element AMAL- occurs as a prefix in five names in the Akkadian Dictionary but in only two names in the Neo-Babylonian: AMALI, meaning 'Hope' and AMELI means 'to work, make'. The name AMALIS in Akkadian means "like an, or a, tree'. (Black p. 14) The suffix ending -KI is found in two names as a prefix in the Akkadian Dictionary: KI-ABI-IQBI and KI-LAQBI, related to KETTU-USUR, meaning 'Protect the truth!' (Black p. 613) which may be woven into the meaning of the name AMALEKI found in the Book of Mormon. and the name AMALEKI appears later in the languages of the Near East. The name AMALEK, of uncertain meaning found in Hebrew in the Tanakh and in Genesis 36-12 about 1700 BC. AMALEK was the grandson of Esau and son of Eliphaz and his concubine Timna. Amalek was the ancestor of the Amalekites, Israel's first and worst enemy, about whom God swore that there would be war with them in each generation (Exodus 17:16). The last surviving Amalekites were killed, (The suffix endings -ITE or -ITES generally indicate those who are 'of' or 'belong to' a group of people, family or tribe) during the reign of King Hezekiah, by a force of five hundred men of the tribe of Shimeon, in Mount Seri, southeast of the Dead Sea (Chronicles 4:43; Mandel pp. 46-47) ). Thus the name AMALEKI became the name of a group or tribe in the Biblical record and was probably preserved in the Brass Plates, the followers were named AMALEKITES, as is the case in the Book of Mormon where AMALEKITES are found in Alma 21:2. These were Nephite apostates who lived in the land of Nephi among the Lamanites and who were noted for their more wicked and murderous disposition than the Lamanites. (Alma 423:6; 21:1-2; Largey pp. 44-46, about 90 BC)
The name AMALICKIAH, which is AMALICK with a theophoric hypocoristicon or abbreviation of a divine name -iah, where the -IAH suffix ending stands for Jehovah. The name AMALICHIAH first appears in Alma 56:3. Chapters 46, 47, 48, some of 49 and 51, and 51 and 52 are mostly about a Nephite traitor who through deception and murder became commander of the Lamanite armies and then king of the Lamanites about 73 BC. Mormon made a summary statement about this wicked man: "We...see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men." (Alma 46:9) Like Lucifer, Amalickiah hatefully rebelled against the gospel plan in a great thirst for glory and power. It was his intent to deliberately destroy the liberty of men. Amalickiah's life followed the pattern one would expect of Satan were he given a mortal probation. He exposes the pattern followed by many who are the enemies of Christ. (Largey pp. 45-46) The name probably means 'God's Hope', in the case of this man it would have been misplaced. The hypocoristicon, -iah for Jehovah, is very old, there is some evidence it was employed on names found on Ebla tablets before 2450 BC.
The tongue twister name AMALICKIAHITES first appears in Alma 46:28-29 about 73 BC. They were Nephite dissenters who were followers of Amalickiah, joining him in rebellion and supporting him to become king, but were outnumbered by the people of Moroni and were doubtful concerning the justice of their cause. (Alma 46:29) They fell to the forces of Moroni before they could escape Moroni compelled them to enter "The Covenant of Freedom" or be executed. (Alma 46:35)
The name AMALITU in the Akkadian dictionary has the feminine suffix ending of -TU, a designation of a goddess and may have its origins in ancient Sumerian. (Black p. 14) The Akkadian name of AMALU seems to refer again to a tree, in this case, a conifer. (Black p. 14) And the name AMALUBUKKU also in the Akkadian word lists means a reed shelter. (Black p. 14) The Akkadian name, AMALUKTU, in the Akkadian Dictionary, also with the feminine ending -TU, again refers to a cultic functionary, the designation of a goddess. (Black p. 14)
As discussed elsewhere in many Semitic Languages the vowels are not employed, though sometimes marks are given to designate them, so the name elements or consonantal elements of the key name AMALEKI would be: ML and MLK, frequently used in the Phoenician, Arabic and Hebrew, and are also important as a test as to the consistency of the translator of the Book of Mormon, or writer, or abridger, and in the case of names which were spelled out by a VOICE to Joseph Smith for accurate spellings. This must have taken some time as there are hundreds of different names in the Book of Mormon. Did the voice repeat the name of the Book of Mormon every time it was encountered or just the first time it came up? Through the VOICE, Joseph Smith knew exactly what had to be recorded. The VOICE included the vowels as well. Names with the consonantal elements especially MLK, have meanings in the Akkadian Dictionary that include: ONE, MESSENGER, ADVISER, COUNSELLOR, RULER, PRINCE, KING, all are familiar when one considers the name MELCHIZEDEK, meaning KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Genesis 14:18). Many Hebrew names have the consonantal elements of MLK, generally meaning king. (Mandel p. 348) These elements have also been discussed in the entries to this Web Site on the PHOENICIANS. The pre-ordination and pre-existence of MELCHIZEDEK and others is provided in Alma 13.
PART 5 will continue the study of the AKKADIAN DICTIONARY.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BENZ, Frank l., Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions., Biblical Institute Press, Rome 1972
BLACK, Jeremy , Andrew George, Nicholas Postgate, A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2000
CARLTON, Joann, Possible Linguistic Roots of Certain Book of Mormon Proper Names, Foundation for Ancient Research & Mormon Studies, BYU, Provo, Utah, 1981
COOGAN, Michael D., West Semitic PersonalNmes in Murasu Documents, Edwards Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor, 1976
HESS, Richard S., Amarna Personal Names, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, 1993 HUFFMAN, Hebert, Amorite Personal Names in the Mari Texts, John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1965
MANDEL, David, Who's Who in Tanakh, Ariel Books, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2004
NIBLEY, Hugh, Lehi in the Desert, The World of the Jaredites, There were Jaredites, Vol. 5, Deseret Book Company, FARMS, Salt Lake City, Utah 1988
-The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Vol. 8, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, Utah 1989
ODEBERG, Hugo, 3 Enoch, The Hebrew Book of Enoch, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., New York, 1973
PETERSEN, Mark E., The Jaredites, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1984
RADNER, Karen, The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol. 1/1, A, University of Helsinki, Finland, 1998
SAGGS, H.W.F., The Babylonians, The Folio Society, London, 1998
SHAPIRO, R. Gary, An Exhaustive Concordance of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, Hawkes Publishing Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, 1977 STORM, Rachel Myths and Legends of the Ancient Near East, The Folio Society, London, 2003
WILHELM, Gernot, The Kingdom of Mitanni in Second-Millennium Upper Mesopotamia, In Jack M. Sasson, Ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Vol. l & 2, Hendrickson, Peabody, Mass., 1995
YADIN, Yigael, Bar-Kokhba, Random House, New York, 1971
ZORICH, Zach, Obsidian and Empire, Archaeology, Long Island, N. Y., January/February, 2013