LDS Living
have an article by Taylor Halverson and Brad Wilcox entitled:
The article
discusses proposed etymologies for other names, too, including Zemnarihah; I
did find their proposal to be rather interesting, as it shows that the Book of
Mormon engaged in a wordplay on its Hebrew etymology, providing strong evidence
of the text being a translation of an ancient document:
Zemnarihah
Zemnarihah
was one of the villains of the Book of Mormon. As leader of the Gadianton
robbers and an apostate Nephite, he led a destructive siege by the robbers
against the Nephite fortifications. When Zemnarihah’s army was finally depleted
and he himself was caught, the Nephites:
“[H]anged
[Zemnarihah] upon a tree [menorah], yea, even
upon the top thereof until he was dead. And when they had hanged him until he
was dead they did fell the tree [menorah] to the
earth, and did cry with a loud voice, saying: May the Lord [ihah]
preserve his people in righteousness and in holiness of heart, that they may
cause to be felled to the earth all who shall seek to slay them because of
power and secret combinations, even as this [ze]
man hath been felled to the earth” (3 Nephi 4:28-29, emphasis added).
As
seen in this verse, Zemnarihah’s name may be a combination of several Hebrew
words, meaning “This [ze] is the tree/candlestick [menorah] of Jehovah [ihah]”.
Significantly,
Zemnarihah is the only person in the Book of Mormon who was hanged from a tree.
Perhaps the Nephites were making a statement against Zemnarihah: “You think you
are the tree or candlestick of Jehovah, lighting the way unto the children of
men? Not so! You have been false and are a fallen light.”
Zemnarihah’s
name and his story may describe fitting justice for a man—an anti-Christ—who
sought to enslave the people of God by falsely using the name of Jehovah. We
learn from Zemnarihah and his name that we must beware of pride and make sure
we are reflecting the light of Christ, not interfering with it.
Halverson
and Wilcox also contributed another article on Book of Mormon onomasticon to
the LDS Living Website, The
Actual Meaning of “Nephi” and 3 Other Book of Mormon Names
I discussed
the etymology of some Book of Mormon names during a fireside in my home branch
here in Ireland back in August 2016; one can find it here.
