Proper names fall into two main divisions, according as they are names of persons or names of places. Of these the names of places are, ἘΕΘΕΤΟΝΣ speaking, much more ambiguous and
iffcult of interpretation. But the place names of the OT are also in all probability—once again speaking generally—more ancient than the per- sonal names. It will be convenient, therefore, to deal with them first. It must not, however, be supposed that, in thus dividing the subject, any assumption is made that place names were always independent of personal names, or that the latter were derivative from the former. As a matter of fact, there are probably instances of both kinds— personal names that were originally names of places ; place names that were originally names of persons,
But certain broad differences in character etween personal and place names do suggest that in the main the two classes grew inde ἘΕΠ ΔῊΝ of one another. And this is πος true with regard to names of individual persons, if certain phenomena are rightly interpreted as pointing to the derivation both δὲ some place names and also of some names of individual persons from clan names. But this is an obscure subject, which cannot be discussed here.
I. PLACE NAMEs.—l. Obviously, the name of a pia may have been long in existence before its
rst mention in extant records. All names of places in the Bible may therefore, except in those cases in which we have definite evidence to the contrary, have been in existence before the Israel- itish conquest of the country. In other words they may have originated with the Canaanites or other early inhabitants of the land, and not with the Israelites. In several cases we are not left to mere conjecture on this point. We have direct evidence of the ΕΑ ΝΟΣ existence of many names familiar to us in the OT. Thus the Tel el- Amarna tablets mention Aijalon, Hazor, Jerusalem, Lachish, Megiddo, Zorah, and others; the list (15 cent. B.c.) of Tahutmes ΤΠ. conquests includes Abel, Ain, Gath, Migdal, Mishal; and other early Egyptian lists, Beth-anath, Luz, and Secu. The significance of these lists is not exhausted by the
482 NAMES, PROPER
actual number of OT place names which they record, and thus directly prove to be pre-Israelitish. For, in the first place, the mention of Jerusalem proves the biblical writers (Jg 19, 1Ch 11",
os 15° 18"* 38) ill informed in believing that name to be of Israelitish origin, and consequently lessens our confidence in their testimony relative to other names. And, secondly, some of the names actually found in these early records are typical of large classes of OT names. The consequence is, that it is only in the case of a very few names indeed that we can feel confident that they were of Israel- itish origin. They must not therefore be indis- criminately used as evidence of Hebrew belief or custom. Fortunately, many of the place names refer to abiding features of the place, not to the changing customs of the inhabitants. To some of these we may turn first.
2. Many names refer to the physical features of the town or its surroundings. Ramah, the name of several places, means ‘height’; Geba, Gibeah, and Gideon mean ‘hill.’ Other names of similar significance are Jogbehah (./n21=‘ to be high’), Seda (=‘ the cliff’), Shechem (=‘ the shoulder of a hill’). A low-lying situation or the neighbourhood of some hollow seems to be referred to in Beth-emek (‘house of the valley’), Horonaim (‘the two hollows’), and perhaps Beten (lit. =‘ the belly,’ so
Arabic we ). The nature of the soil gave rise to
other names: Argob indicates a rich and earthy soil; Ekron, ‘barren’; Horeb and Jabesh, ‘dry’; Carmel, ‘garden-land’; Adel (in several com- pounds), ‘a meadow.’ The numerous compounds with Zn (jy) and Beer (1x3) imply the presence of a spring ; Hammath, Prumuath-dor: and Hammon, of hot springs. The ‘ white’ cliffs of the range are peabably commemorated by the name Lebanon ; the duskiness of its waters by Kidron ; the blackness of the soil by Hawran. But these and other names (Hachilah, Zalmon, Adummin, Mé-jarkon) which may refer to colour are more or less ambiguous.
3. A very considerable number of place names are names of plants, or are compounded with such names. The shrubs or trees referred to in such names are the acacia (Abel-shittim, Beth-shittah), the apple-tree (Beth-tappuah, En-tappuah, and Tappuah), the palm-tree (Tamar, Baal-tamar, Hazazon-tamar), the terebinth or oak (E£l-paran= Elath, Elah, Eloth, Elim, and Elon), the pome-
anate (the Rock of Rimmon, and probably also
n-rimmon, Rimmon, Rimmon-perez, and Gath- rimmon), the cucumber (Dilan), the olive-tree (the Ascent or Mount of Olives), the vine (A bel-chera- mim, Beth-haccerem, Eshcol, and probably Sorek and Masrekah), the juniper (ithmah), the gada- tree (Ezion-geber), the almond-tree (Luz), the balsam-tree {πεν of Baca), the sycamore-tree (Gimzo), thorn-bushes (Atad, Shamir and perhaps Seneh).
Another large group consists of names of animals, or words derived from animal names, viz. Aijalon (the stag), Lebaoth, Laish (the lion), Beth-nimrah (the leopard), Ophrah and Ephron (the gazelle), Arad (the wild-ass), Hazar-shual, the land of Shual and Shaalbim (the fox), Zeboim (the hyzna), Telaim and Beth-car (the lamb), Parah (the cow), En-eglaim, Eglon (the calf), Hazar-susah (the horse), En-gedi (the kid), Beth-hoglah (the part- ridge), Etiam (birds of prey), Jr-nahash (the serpent), Humtah (the lizard), Zorah (the hornet), Akrabbim (scorpions), Gudgodah (the cricket). The derivation of a few of these is uncertain, but in most of them it is unmistakable. It is easy to understand how trees which always occupy the same Ῥοδίοις, may have given a name to a place ; it is less easy to feel sure that the other places