Gidanah or Giddonah (Alma 14:3)--What Might The Name Mean?

"I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi"--so Amulek introduces himself to auditors in his own city, Ammonihah.

Giddonah is an odd name--but so are the others. Odder yet: "For some reason the 1830 typesetter altered Gidanah, the spelling in [the Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon] to Giddonah," Royal Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, 3:1774; BYU Book of Mormon Onomasticon.

"I am Amulek; I am the son of Gidanah."

Either way, it's the same name.

Amulek, Ishmael, Aminadi: Aramaic and Hebrew hold the key--but what might Gidanah mean? The Proto-Semitic root *gVdVn (*gadan, or maybe *gidan) signifies "to become rich" (see no. 903 in "Semitic etymology," starling.rinet.ru). Arabic attests the same root as jdn (to be prosperous, rich), as in jadan (gift, bounty; F. J. Steingass, English-Arabic Dictionary).

But is Gidanah anywhere attested as a Semitic name? In CAD G we find the archaic (Ur III) personal name, Gidanu, which, we are told, is "probably West Semitic." 

That another well-born Giddonah, a contemporary of the first, sits as high priest in the land of Gideon shows us that the Book of Mormon is on the right track. Gadan or Gidan ultimately springs from the Proto-Semitic root *gid (that which is strong, big; the sinew). As for Gideon, the name signifies to hew wood.

The Book of Mosiah presents Gideon, the king's captain, all full of wrath and boldness: he settled the land that bears his name. Another warrior in the Book of Alma bears the name Gid, which signifies sinew, the source of strength--and of prosperity. The same root, attested throughout Semitic languages, appears in the name of the ancient Jaredite king, Amgid (people of sinew). The Jaredite rulers, you will recall from Ether's book, were all "strong and mighty men." As Alma's contemptuous contemporary Korihor cynically notes in a deft but elusive turn of phrase, which may or may not subtly play on words: "therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength" (Alma 30:17; Professor Jo Ann Hackett has mulled over Gid as sinew: see BYU's Book of Mormon Onomasticon, q.v. "Gid"). 

Giddonah of Gideon, as the high priest at Korihor's trial, is a bulls-eye for the Book of Alma; Amgid fits the archaic Book of Ether; Gidanah derives from the earlier West Semitic form, Gidanu; and the Book of Mormon even gives us the name Gidgiddonah, which has a super-prosperous ring to it (see comments in Skousen, 3:1774). These names and offices and roles all resonate at a cultural plane just above our reach. 

Gidanah (or Giddonah) not only reflects Proto-Semitic *gVdVn, the name also fits what Alma tells us of the family of Amulek: they were rich. A principal trait of the Ammonihahites was the fast grab for easy money--a game of glib lawyers--and Gidan-ah suggests a prosperous land, city, or family. Gidanah signifies her (its) bounty, her gift, or as an abstract noun: a bounty, a rich gift. It's a great baby name. True, better to avoid Gadianton.

Luram: "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day"

The Second Epistle of Mormon to his son Moroni, which comprises the second to last chapter in the entire Book of Mormon, has things to "grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death." "But," continues Mormon, "may Christ lift thee up" (Moroni 9: 25).

The great military installation, the Tower of Sherrizah, has fallen to the enemy, and Nephite "men, women, and children" face execution, torture, deprivation--"no water, save a little"--and, finally, even abandonment in the Wasteland: leaving "them to wander whithersoever they can for food; and many old women do faint by the way and die." "Betwixt Sherrizah and me" lies a road of death; "but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death. . .and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever." Rest, for "I dwell no longer upon this horrible scene" ("Come out in judgment, O God!"), for even "betwixt Sherrizah and me" stands Christ "filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice" (Moroni 9: 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 20, 25; Mosiah 15: 9).

We turn with a shudder from the Tower of Sherrizah, to the Nephites a tower of terror, and look to "the Father, whose throne is high in the heavens, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his power" (verse 26).

The Nephites driven from "every high tower" and "every fenced wall"--even every strong-walled Sharriruta--now desert a shattered world, a broken tower, their fall now complete, but "God is Exalted," for "the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (see Isaiah 2: 11, 15, 17). Sharriruta may well be the Aramaic equivalent of our Sherrizah, and signifies soundness, integrity, Festigkeit. But "the Lord alone shall be exalted": ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott. A Mighty Fortress is our God.

"We did not conquer" is the final word; yet "all things shall become subject unto him," even Christ--and that is the final word (Moroni 9:2, 26).

The very names of the Nephite fallen somehow attest, ironically attest, to the very same matter.

"And Archeantus has fallen by the sword, and also Luram and Emron; yea, and we have lost a great number of our choice men" (verse 2)--"we have lost." The name element Arche- clearly comes from the Greek (Hugh Nibley has explained the presence of Greek names in the Book of Mormon), and bespeaks the lost rulership, the lost command. Arche- also signifies the beginning, even Creation, but we are now at the end: "the end of all flesh is come."

Luram catches the eye too. The name signifies, attests "God is Exalted" and is to be found in its complete form in both Ugaritic, Amorite, and even Ammonite (Ugaritic: 'Ilrm, Ilu-rama; Ammonite: 'l-rm; Amorite: E-lu-ra-ma; Elu (God) Rama (On High; Exalted).

Even choice Luram has fallen, for "the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."


Notes
James Hoch, Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, 205

For a latter-day instance of Moroni 9, I refer the reader to the strikingly similar accounts from Sirte, Libya in 2011 (articles on cnn.com). June 13, 2013: Fox News reports 6,500 children among the 93,000 killed in the Syrian Civil War.

Copyright 2011 by Val H. Sederholm

The Brother of "Shared" (or Gilead) in the Book of Ether

It doesn't matter how many readings, every time I open the Book of Ether (the account of the Jaredite train bound for headlong destruction), it's a new ride. I can never remember which witch was which: which the righteous king, which the bad; nor can I recall whose brother was who. Who's on first?

To any well-instructed Latter-day Saint savvy about Jared's famous but unnamed brother, it still shocks to learn there is also a Brother of Shared. Even more alarming to the potential contestant in Book of Mormon quiz games comes the belated information that the name of the Brother of Shared is Gilead.

Gilead (stone heap or pillar of witness) is an outlier of a name anyhow (see Genesis 31). It stands beetling at the edge of things. And what does this Jaredite Gilead bear witness to? As with the Book of Mormon name Gilgal, Gilead bespeaks unmixed evil: slayer of wine-drenched foes, usurper of a throne, victim of assassination at the hands of his own high priest (Ether 14). Too late for the famous balm, prophesies Jeremiah, "for thou shalt not be cured" (46:11; Gilgal meets Gilead in Hosea 12:11). Jaredite bones become as heaps of earth, an attesting Gilead of once a great nation (see Ether 11 and 14).

Michael Dirda, reviewing Marilynne Robinson's novel, Gilead, for The Washington Post, writes:

Gilead is a land east of the Jordan traditionally viewed as the source of a healing salve: the balm of Gilead. But in the Old Testament this same region carries less pacific associations as well and is sometimes described as a place of war, bloodshed and iniquity. The word Gilead is also linked--through a folk etymology--with the idea of witnessing (Sunday, 21 November 2004, page BW 15).

We witness, among others, Jephthah, son of Gilead--and of a harlot--Israel's antihero, whose victory evaporates into the polluted sacrifice of his own daughter.

Gilead, Hosea intones, "is polluted with blood" (6:8).

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Not in the resolute Book of Ether.


Notes:
Detailed discussion on the various places, people, and things bearing the name Gilead may be found in the International Study Bible Encyclopaedia, Geoffrey W. Bromley (ed). The Assyrian form of the name is given as Gal'aza.

The Name Gilgal in the Book of Mormon

The name Gilgal (wheel, stone pile, standing stones, heap of stones) portends evil and violence in the Book of Mormon. It is a darker, bleaker Stonehenge.

The name first appears in the enumeration of cities destroyed during the great earthquake described in 3 Nephi 9: And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof to be buried up in the depths of the earth (3 Nephi 9:6). Gilgal surfaces again as the name of a Nephite commander slain in the battle for Cumorah, "to be buried up in the depths of the earth" along with his 10,000.

Finally, in the archaic record of Jaredite warfare that Moroni redacts for our benefit at the end of his own record, we all--Gog and Magog--again dress for destruction at Gilgal (Ether 13:27-30):

And it came to pass that Coriantumr was exceedingly angry with Shared, and he went against him with his armies to battle; and they did meet in great anger, and they did meet in the valley of Gilgal; and the battle became exceedingly sore.

And it came to pass that Shared fought against him for the space of three days. And it came to pass that Coriantumr beat him, and did pursue him until he came to the plains of Heshlon.

And it came to pass that Shared gave him battle again upon the plains; and behold, he did beat Coriantumr, and drove him back again to the valley of Gilgal.

And Coriantumr gave Shared battle again in the valley of Gilgal, in which he beat Shared and slew him.

Around and around it goes, this great wheel of Gilgal. Here King Coriantumr begins the civil war that grinds all into annihilation.

There is something universal about this wheel of Gilgal, something as archaic as ruined stone heaps. Gilgal is a timeless word, and it comes as no surprise to find it in Egyptian as well (borrowed from Semitic).

On a Dynasty 19 ostracon (O. Ebinb. 916 vs 3-4) we read:

Dw.w bshd;
st h3w m ka=-r=ka--r [or karkar = *galgala]

The mountains topple;
they come down in a rock heap
(James E. Hoch, Semitic Words in Egyptian, #485, 333: "The word has been identified with BH [Biblical Hebrew] gilgahl n. loc. Stone Pile.")

Could any words better describe the stunning appearance of a valley called Gilgal?

Or the tumbling and sinking of 3 Nephi 9?

And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be
sunk,
and the inhabitants thereof to be
buried up
in the
depths
of the earth.


Notes:
According to the unpublished Book of Mormon Onomasticon (to be published by the Maxwell Institute at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah), Gilgal twice appears as a Hebrew personal name: 1) "on a bowl from Arad, 8th c. BC (JAT) [John A. Tvedtnes]," and 2) as glgwl among the Elephantine documents 10:21 (EHA)." One of the sons of Jared is named Gilgah [stone pillar?].