Place names of Palestine
Many place names in Palestine were
The importance of toponymy, or geographical naming, was first recognized by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), a British organization who mounted geographical map-making expeditions in the region in the late 19th century. Shortly thereafter, the British Mandatory authorities set out to gather toponymic information from local fellahin, who had been proven to have preserved knowledge of the ancient place names which could help identify archaeological sites.[7]
Since the
History
The local population of Palestine used Semitic languages, such as Hebrew, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Samaritan Aramaic and Arabic for thousands of years.[10] Almost all place names in the region have Semitic roots, with only a few place names being of Latin origin, and hardly any of Greek or Turkish origins.[10] The Semitic roots of the oldest names continued to be used by the local population, though during classical antiquity, many names underwent modifications due to the influence of local ruling elites well versed in Greek and Latin.[6]
In his 4th-century work, the
Following the Arab conquest of the Levant, many of the pre-classical Semitic names were revived, though often the spelling and pronunciation differed. Of course, for places where the old name had been lost or for new settlements established during this period, new Arabic names were coined.[6] Similar to this, two thousand years before, the non-Semitic-speaking Philistine inhabitants of the southern Levant in the Late Bronze Age kept the West-Semitic names of the Canaanite towns they had inherited.[12]
According to Roy Marom and Ran Zadok, "the general outlines of the Palestinian nomenclature of space were well developed," by the 16th century, "instead of being the more recent linguistic product of later centuries as previously thought." Palestinian place-names "traditionally regarded as the product of modern Palestinian rural society, reflect instead a long-lasting linguistic continuity of the country’s Arabic speaking village communities."[13] A local study of place-names around Hamama has shown that Palestinian toponymy contained a limited stratum of pre-Ottoman place-names, to which residents added new toponyms were added, referring in cases to families living in or around the village.[14]
European travelers composed travel accounts describing its
With the establishment of
Preservation
A systematic study of place-names showed very high levels of pre-modern name preservation rates along the Eastern Mediterranean highland chain, primarily of site names, and
According to Uzi Leibner, this preservation of names is "a function of continuity of settlement at the site itself, or at least in the immediate region", and most of the sites in question were inhabited during the
A study of place-name preservation in the area between Jerusalem and Jaffa since the 1550s, found that the lowest levels of preservation of recorded toponyms are in the lowlands (20–25%), while the highlands are characterized by much higher preservation rate of 40%–60%.[13]
Linguistic roots
Water sources
Agricultural features are common to roots of place names in Palestine. For example, some place names incorporate the Semitic root for "spring" or "cistern", such as
Features
Haim ben-david notes that the word "caphar" appears just once in the Hebrew Bible (for Cephar-ammoni) but much more frequently in later sources, which implies it is of Aramaic origin and was introduced to the area only during the Second Temple period.[21]
Deities
Other place names preserve the names of Semitic gods and goddesses from ancient times. For example, the name of the goddess
Direct translations
In some cases the original name was simply translated, such as the ancient city of
Other examples are the names of Capitolias, which was referred to in the 6th century Talmud in Aramaic as Bet Reisha, and was later translated to Arabic as Beit Ras,[29][30][31][27] and the Ladder of Tyre, also known in Rabbinic literature as Lavanan or Lavlavan (from the Hebrew: לבן, "white"), was later translated into Arabic as Ras el-Bayda (White head), and into Latin by the Crusaders, as Album Promontorium.[27]
Exceptions
Yehuda Elitzor observes that in the majority of cases, Arabic-speakers did not give new names to places where their original names were known and existing; an exception is the city of Hebron, for which its historic name was replaced by the Arabic name "Khalil al-Rahman"; he suggests that the new name was lifted from a tradition prevalent among the Jews of Hebron.[27]
Linguistic conversion
The Hebrew letter Ḥet (ח) is correctly Ḥāʾ (ح) in Arabic, though frequently also Ḫāʾ(خ), and sometimes 'Ayn (ع) takes its place (as happened in Beth Horon > Beit 'Ur). Guerin noted that in his time, Beit Hanina was sometimes referred to as Bayt 'Anina.[32]
Another similar case is the shift from 'Ayin ([ʕ], Hebrew: ע, Arabic: ع) into Aleph ([ʔ], Hebrew: א, Arabic: ا), even though both sounds exist in Arabic. For instance, the Biblical name Endor (עין דור, using [ʕ]) was changed to Indur (إندور, using [ʔ]). The Jews of Galilee (specifically in Haifa, Beth-shean and Tiv'on) were already "producing Ayins as Alephs," according to rabbinic literature, which already makes notice of this shift.[27]
The Hebrew suffix t (
Identification methods
Conversations with fellahin
The vast majority of place-name identifications are made upon their similarity to existing Palestinian Arabic place names, or else upon the assessment of other geographical information provided by the Biblical texts.[34]
Many of the local names were learned by the explorers by asking the local fellahin.
Clermont-Ganneau noted that the fellahin women were more ancient in their habits, attire, and language and frequently had greater knowledge of names than the fellahin men, which occasionally prompted the men to respond violently.[35]
Occasionally, the same geographic feature could go by several names among the locals. The valley next to Khirbet 'Adaseh, north of Jerusalem, was referred to as Wady ed-Dumm, "Valley of Blood" by the people of Beit Hanina (which some have claimed got its name from being the location of the battle of Adasa), and Wady 'Adaseh by the people of Bir Nabala.[36]
Archaeological findings
Evolution of names, a selection
Galilee
- Khirbet Safsafa.[39]
- First Jewish-Roman War, when it was known as Jotapata (Yodfat). Before the establishment of Israel, its site was known as Shifat, Kh.
Judaean Mountains
- Betar.[40]Its Arabic name Battir is evidently related to the ancient name. The village was also identified by an ancient mound in the vicinity called Khirbet el-Yahud ("ruin of the Jews").
- Arabic: بيت عور التحتى, "Lower house of straw") preserve parts of the original Canaanite names for these sites: Bethoron Elyon ("Upper Bethoron"), and Bethoron Tahton ("Lower Bethoron"). Bethoron means the "House of Horon", named for the Egypto-Canaanite deity Horon mentioned in Ugaritic literature and other texts.[41][42][43]
- .
- Jib: Al-Jib preserves the name of its ancient predecessor, Gibeon.
- Hebron: Hebron is known in Arabic as "al-Khalil", so-called after Abraham the Patriarch who was called the "friend" (Ar. "khalil") of God.
- Lifta: Commonly identified as the biblical site of Nephtoah, mentioned in the Book of Joshua (15:9; 18:15).
- Ramallah: Commonly identified as the biblical site of Mizpah in Benjamin.[44]
- Tuqu: The Arabicized form of the name Teqoa, mentioned several times in the Bible.
Shephelah
- 'Aīd el Mâ: Commonly identified as the biblical site of Adullam, mentioned in 1 Samuel 22:2.
- 1948 Arab–Israeli war. This village was originally known by the Aramaic name Beth Gabra ("house of the strong men").[45] The Romans gave it the Greek name of Eleutheropolis ("city of the free") but it is nonetheless listed in the Tabula Peutingeriana of 393 AD as Beitogabri.".[46][47] In the Talmud, its name is transcribed as Beit Gubrin (or Guvrin). The Crusaders referred to it as Bethgibelin or simply Gibelin.[48] Its Arabic name Beit Jibrin ("house of the powerful") is derived from the original Aramaic name.[49]
- Šamaš. The Israelites controlled the town for a while during the Iron Age, turning it into a Levitical city (Josh 21:16), but never changing its pagan name. Even though it was destroyed during the Assyrian/Babylonian conquest approx. 2500 years ago, the biblical name was preserved in the nearby spring, ˁēn šams, ‘Spring [of] Šamaš’.[25][50][51][52]
- Dayr Aban: Literally, "Monastery of Aban," thought by historical geographers to be the biblical Abenezer, mentioned in 1 Samuel 4:1, and located 3 kilometers east of `Ain Shems (Beit Shemesh).
- Aijalon. The Arabic name Yalu, by which it was known for centuries, is derived from the Canaanite original.[53]
Samarian Hills
- Jenin: Jenin is identified with the biblical towns of Ein Ganim and Beth-Haggan.[54] In Hellenistic and Roman times, it was known as Ginat or Ginae.[55][56] The Arabicized name Jenin derived from the original.
- Nablus: Originally named Mabartha or Mamorpha, the town was renamed to Flavia Neapolis after 72 AD by the Romans who had destroyed the nearby ancient city of Shechem (which is located in the current city of Nablus); in 636 AD, it was conquered by the Arabs, who Arabicized its name to Nablus.
- Seilun, Kh.: A Middle and Late Bronze Age Canaanite city and a central Israelite cultic site, recorded as Shiloh in the four books of the Bible (Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, and Psalms). The tell comprising the ruins of the ancient town is known is Modern Hebrew as Tel Shiloh.
Jordan Valley
- Deir Hajla: The site of the ancient Beth-ḥagla mentioned in Joshua 15:6.[57][58][59][60]
- Jericho: Known among the local inhabitants as Ariha (Ar-riha, meaning "fragrance"), it is described in the 10th century Book of Josippon, as "Jericho: City of Fragrance" (ir hareah).[61] It is thought that the current name is derived from the Canaanite name Yareah, meaning "moon".[62]
- Jebel Quruntul: Originally a Semitic name (possibly Dagon) preserved in the Hellenistic fortress name Dok, renamed Quarantana & related names in Latin to reflect the belief that St Helenahad identified a cave there as the place Jesus fasted for 40 days, preserved as Arabic Quruntul and Hebrew Qarantal.
Coastal plain
- Kafr 'Ana: The Arabicized form of the name Ono, a Canaanite town mentioned in 1 Chronicles 8:12.
- Qal'at Ras el-'Ain: Literally, "the Castle of the Fountain-head," or what was formerly called Antipatris (a site near Rosh HaAyin), at the source of the Yarkon River, also known as Nahr Abū Fuṭrus (a corruption of Antipatris).
- Qamun: A tell near Mount Carmel. Qamun's original name was the Israelite Yokneam, from which the Arabic Qamun (meaning "cumin") was derived. Before Israelite times the Canaanite city was probably called En-qn'mu' as it appears in Egyptian sources. The Romans called it Cammona and Cimona, while the Crusaders called it Caymont and also Cains Mon ("Cain's Mountain") reflecting a popular local tradition that Cain was slain nearby.
- Tulkarm: Founded in the 3rd century AD as Berat Soreqa, its name in Aramaic was Tur Karma, meaning "mount of the vineyards". This name was then Arabicized to Tul Karem.
- Yahudiya (known as Al-'Abbasiyya since 1932) means "the Jewish (city)" and is thought to be related to the biblical town of Yahud, mentioned in the Book of Joshua.
- Assyrian texts as Azuru.[63]
Use of place names as personal names
Since the
See also
- Names of Jerusalem
- Hebraization of Palestinian place names
- List of modern names for biblical place names
- Language shift
- Timeline of the name Palestine
- Glossary of Arabic toponyms
References
- ^ Conder, C. R. (1881). Palmer, E. H. (ed.). "Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists". Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund: iv–v.
To determine the exact meaning of Arabic topographical names is by no means easy. Some are descriptive of physical features, but even these are often either obsolete or distorted words. Others are derived from long since forgotten incidents, or owners whose memory has passed away. Others again are survivals of older Nabathean, Hebrew, Canaanite, and other names, either quite meaningless in Arabic, or having an Arabic form in which the original sound is perhaps more or less preserved, but the sense entirely lost. Occasionally Hebrew, especially Biblical and Talmudic names, remain scarcely altered.
- ^ Rainey, 1978, p.230: “What surprised western scholars and explorers the most was the amazing degree to which biblical names were still preserved in the Arabic toponymy of Palestine”
- ISBN 9781610752633. Archivedfrom the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
Robinson concluded that the surest way to identify biblical place names in Palestine was to read the Bible conjointly with existing Arab nomenclature, and during a three-month stay in Palestine during 1839 used this method to identify over a hundred biblical sites.
- ^ Rainey, 1978, p.231: “In the majority of cases, a Greek or Latin name assigned by Hellenistic or Roman authorities enjoyed an existence only in official and literary circles while the Semitic- speaking populace continued to use the Hebrew or Aramaic original. The latter comes back into public use with the Arab conquest. The Arabic names Ludd, Beisan, and Saffurieh, representing original Lod, Bet Se’an and Sippori, leave no hint concerning their imposing Greco-Roman names, viz., Diospolis, Scythopolis, and Diocaesarea, respectively”
- ^ Mila Neishtadt. 'The Lexical Substrate of Aramaic in Palestinian Arabic,' in Aaron Butts (ed.) Semitic Languages in Contact, BRILL 2015 pp.281-282:'As in other cases of language shift, the supplanting language (Arabic) was not left untouched by the supplanted language (Aramaic) and the existence of an Aramaic substrate in Syro-Palestinian colloquial Arabic has been widely accepted. The influence of the Aramaic substrate is especially evidence in many Palestinian place names, and in the vocabularies of traditional life and industrials: agriculture, flora, fauna, food, tools, utensils etc.'
- ^ a b c d e f Miller and Hayes, 1986, p. 29.
- ^ Benvenisti and Kaufman-Lacusta, 2000, p. 16.
- ^ a b Swedenburg, 2003, p. 50.
- ^ Kramer and Harman, 2008, pp. 1–2
- ^ a b Ellenblum, 2003, p. 256.
- ^ Richard, 2003, p. 442.
- S2CID 163841157.
- ^ a b Marom, Roy (2023). "Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy: A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan's Endowment Deed (1552)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 139 (2).
- ^ "Arabic Toponymy around Ashkelon: The Village of Hamama as a Case Study". escholarship.org. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ a b Kramer and Harman, 2008, p. 128.
- ^ a b Swedenburg, 2003, p. 49.
- ^ Davis, 2004, p. 6.
- ^ Macalister, 1977, p. 79.
- ISSN 0724-7567.
- ^ a b Cansdale, 1997, p. 111.
- ^ ISSN 0792-8416.
- ^ Leibner, 2009, pp. 395–396.
- ^ Rast, 1992, p. 25.
- ^ Hitti, 2002, p. 120.
- ^ S2CID 251996394.
- ^ Conder, C. R. (Claude Reignier); Palestine Exploration Fund; Kitchener, Horatio Herbert Kitchener; Palmer, Edward Henry (1881). The survey of Western Palestine : Arabic and English name lists collected during the survey. Robarts - University of Toronto. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. pp. 5–7.
- ^ ISBN 965-226-228-5.
- ISBN 978-1-4142-8338-8.
The source of the Jordan, or as it is here called, Dhan (ضان), is at an hour and a quarter N. E. from Banias.
- from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2023 – via www.persee.fr.
- ^ "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, CABANES ("Ildum") Castellón, Spain., CALLEVA ATREBATUM (Silchester) Hampshire, England., CAPITOLIAS (Beit Ras) Jordan". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
- ^ "Jewish Virtual Library: "Capitolias"". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ Guérin, 1868, p. 394
- ^ Elitzur, Ancient Place Names, 339
- ^ Lachish appears in the text of one of the sixth-century letters found at Tell ed-Duweir; 4) and boundary stones found on the outskirts of Tell el-Jazari are inscribed with the name Gezer. 5) All other identifications of ancient sites are based either upon the assumption that the ancient name has preserved itself in the modern Arabic place name or upon geographic references in biblical or other ancient texts which are supported by the evidence of occupation during the periods to which the texts allude.
- ^ Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, Vol. 2, p. 472-473
- ISSN 0031-0328.
- ^ Shanks, Hershel. “The Sad Case of Tell Gezer.” Biblical Archaeology Review, Jul/Aug 1983, 30-35, 38-42: "Gezer also has special significance in the history of archaeology. Gezer was the first Biblical city to be identified by an inscription found at the site. Even today only a handful of sites — Beth Shean, Arad, Hazor — have been so identified. In 1873, the great French scholar Clermont-Ganneau found a boundary inscription dating from the Herodian period which reads in Hebrew script, “boundary of Gezer.”"
- ^ Negev and Gibson, 2005, p. 166.
- ^ Freedman et al., 2006, p. 406.
- ^ Glass, 2005, p. 279.
- ^ Eugenio Alliata (2000-12-19), Bethoron (Bayt Ur), Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, archived from the original on 2008-08-29, retrieved 2007-09-12
- )
- S2CID 162067028
- ^ "Ramallah | Palestine, Map, History, & Population | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
- ^ Sharon, 1997, p. 109.
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1856, p. 67.
- ^ Macalister 1911, p. 263.
- ^ Richard, 1921, p. 140.
- ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 209–210.
- doi:10.2307/1356743
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1860, p. 253–254.
- ISSN 0031-0328.
- OCLC 1022977764.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Josephus Flavius. "Jewish War, Book 3, Chapter 3:4-5". Fordham.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2012-12-31 – via Ancient History Sourcebook: Josephus (37 – after 93 CE): Galilee, Samaria, and Judea in the First Century AD.
Now as to the country of Samaria, it lies between Judea and Galilee; it begins at a village that is in the great plain called Ginea, and ends at the Acrabbene toparchy, and is entirely of the same nature with Judea
- OCLC 6250553. (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute, Jerusalem (1962))
- ^ Avi-Yonah, M. (1976). Gazetteer of Roman Palestine, Qedem - Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology [5]. Vol. 2. Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem. p. 39. Archived from the original on 2023-01-10. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
- ISBN 965-208-107-8.
- OCLC 937002750., s.v. Halon Atad
- ^ Milgrom, 1995, p. 127.
- ^ Bromiley, 1995, p. 1136.
- ^ Maspero et al., 1900, p. 288.
- ^ Sylomovics, 1998, p. 202.
Sources
- Macalister, R.A. Stewart (1911), Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 9 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 263 , in
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-520-21154-4
- Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1995), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8028-3782-0
- Cansdale, Lena (1997), Qumran and the Essenes: A Re-evaluation of the Evidence, Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 978-3-16-146719-6
- Cheyne, Thomas Kelly; Black, John Sutherland (1902), Encyclopædia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religious History, the Archæology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible, Macmillan Company
- Davis, Thomas W. (2004), Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology, ISBN 978-0-19-516710-8
- ISBN 978-0-521-52187-1
- ISBN 978-0-8028-2400-4
- ISBN 978-1-931956-60-4
- ISBN 0-14-044420-3
- Glass, Joseph B. (2002), From New Zion to Old Zion: American Jewish Immigration and Settlement in Palestine, 1917-1939, ISBN 978-0-8143-2842-2
- ISBN 0-88728-224-5
- Krämer, Gudrun; Harman, Graham (2008), A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel, ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0
- Leibner, Uzi (2009), Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern Galilee (illustrated ed.), Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 9783161498718
- ISBN 978-0-405-10265-3
- ISBN 978-0-7661-7935-6
- ISBN 978-0-931464-87-4
- Miller, James Maxwell; Hayes, John Haralson (1986), History of Ancient Israel and Judah, Westminster John Knox Press
- ISBN 978-0-8264-8571-7
- Rast, Walter E. (1992), Through the Ages in Palestinian Archaeology: An Introductory Handbook, ISBN 978-1-56338-055-6
- Richard, Suzanne (2003), Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader, EISENBRAUNS, ISBN 978-1-57506-083-5
- ISBN 0-521-62566-1
- Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1860), Biblical Researches in Palestine and Adjacent Regions: A Journal of Travel in the Year 1838, Crocker and Brewster
- ISBN 90-04-11083-6
- Slyomovics, Susan (1998), The Object of Memory: Arab and Jew Narrate the Palestinian Village, University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0-8122-1525-0
- Swedenburg, Ted (2003), Memories of Revolt: The 1936-1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past, ISBN 978-1-55728-763-2