"Sheum" in Dictionary of Proper Names and Foreign Words in the Book of Mormon (2022)

 I have written about how "Sheum" in Mosiah 9:9 is evidence of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, being derived from an Akkadian word Sheu(m). On this, see:

"Neas" and "Sheum" in the Book of Mormon

As I try to demonstrate intellectual honesty and integrity as best as I can, here is a footnote in the recent (and excellent) Dictionary of Proper Names and Foreign Words in the Book of Mormon that attempts to challenge this proposed etymology:

 

Sumerian še lacks the nominative case ending u and the m of mimation that are necessary if SHEUM were to be derived from še. In no case that I am aware of did Hebrew retain a case ending or mimation when it did borrow an Akkadian word that ultimately was a borrowing of a Sumerian word. The two best known examples of a borrowing of a Sumerian word through Akkadian into Hebrew are hêkāl and kissē. Additionally, there is some variance in how the sign še is read when it means “barley, grain, etc.” Both še’u and u’u are possible. See Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon 374, no. 579, middle of the page. (“Sheum,” 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], 324 n. 93)

 

The following images come from Rykle Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon (Alter Orient und Altest Testament Veröffentlichungen zur Kultur und Geschichte des Alten Orients und des Alten Testaments 305; Münster:Ugarit-Verlag 2004), 374-76 (click to enlarge):

 Instead, an Egyptian etymology is offered:

 

The Egyptian noun sm may also offer a possible etymology. It means “herb, herbage, vegetables, plans,” etc (Faulkner, Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, 225). In Demotic (a later script and dialect of Egyptian roughly contemporary with Lehi) this noun appears as both sm and sym (Erichsen, Demotisches Glossar, 430), pronounced sim in Coptic. The Egyptian s appearing as a Semitic š would present no problems. (Ibid., 324)

 

In the footnote to the above, we read that

 

The Hebrew consonant š is represented as an s in Egyptian 28 percent of the time (Hoch, Egyptian Words in Egyptian Texts, 433), and the Egyptian consonant s is a Hebrew š about 33 percent of the time (Hoch, Egyptian Words in Egyptian Texts, 436). The sound shifts are thus possible. (Ibid., 324 n. 96)