Brief Etymology: The Israelite/Lenite PN ZORAM may
plausibly derive from several Hebrew roots meaning “(the divine) kinsman (i.e.,
God) is a rock,” and “(God is a) rock of the people,” or “(God is) their rock.”
Extended
Discussion: The PN ZORAM may plausibly
derive from several different roots and grammatical form with the meanings “the
(divine) Kinsman is a rock,” “rock of the people,” and “their rock,” each of which
will be discussed below: (1) ZORAM may derive from the Hebrew ṣûr-‘ām,
in which means “(divine) kinsman, God,” meaning “God (divine kinsman) is a rock”
(cf., for instance, the early Reformation hymn title “Ein feste Burg ist unser
Godd”/”A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”); (2) ZORAM may also plausibly
derive from the hypothetical Hebrew *ṣûr-‘ām, “rock of the people”; (3) ZORAM
may further arguably be based on the form ṣûrām, “their-rock” (parallel
to YHWH, “the Lord,” Deuteronomy 32:30 = LXX theos “God”), or from ‘ělōhîm
ṣûrām, “God was their rock” (Psalm 78:35; cf. ṣûr yîśrā’ēl, “Rock of
Israel,” 2 Samuel 23:3 and Isaiah 30:29; ṣûrî, “my rock, strength,”
Psalm 18:2 [3]; or simply ṣûr, “Rock,” Habakkuk (1:12), etc. Compare the
usage of this Semitic root in the Hebrew ṣōr,
“Tyre; the Rock” (= Egyptian Dr, D3(y)r, D3wyr, D3w3r “Tyre”
= Phoenician ṣr, Greek Tyros).
It is also possible that ZORAM
is a form of the Hebrew zerem, “flowing water, rain.” Further, ZORAM
may not simply have been a “servant,” but a “slave” to Laban, since the Hebrew
noun ‘ebed means both, and since Nephi convinces ZORAM to take an
oath to join the Lehite clan so that he will then be free and no longer a slave
(1 Nephi 4:33). If ZORAM is Laban’s slave, then his name might very well
reflect a foreign nationality (Israelites were traditionally not allowed to
hold other Israelites as slaves), and the possibility that he was Tyrian might
help explain the tendency to heresy of the later Zoramites.
Compare the Egyptian divine name ZRM
(Book of the Dead, utterance 39 S 5). ("Zoram," in Dictionary of
Proper Names and Foreign Words in the Book of Mormon, ed. Stephen D. Ricks,
Paul Y. Hoskisson, Robert F. Smith, and John Gee [Orem, Utah: Interpreter
Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2022], 371-72)
