Sunday, March 5, 2017

Taylor Halverson and Brad Wilcox on the etymology of Zemnarihah

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.