More Evidence for Alma as a Semitic Name

by Neal Rappleye, Allen Hansen

Overview

Abstract: Beginning with Hugh Nibley, several Latter-day Saint scholars have highlighted a deed found among the Bar Kokhba documents as evidence of the name Alma as a Jewish male name in antiquity. Here we highlight a second attestation of the same name used for a Jewish male from a slightly earlier period, as well as other evidence from Hebrew toponymy that helps corroborate not only that Alma is a Hebrew name, but also supports the etymology proposed by Latter-day Saint scholars and is suggestive of wordplays previously identified in the Book of Mormon text. Past critics have mocked the name Alma as a feminine name, but since this criticism has now been answered, some have pivoted to claiming that Alma was, in fact, a man's name in Joseph Smith's time and place. We investigate this claim and demonstrate that the evidence for Alma as a male name in the United States—and specifically upstate New York—during the early 1800s has been vastly overstated. Overall, this combination of data suggests that Alma in the Book of Mormon is better accounted for by the ancient rather than modern evidence.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940185900116
Publisher:	Interpreter Foundation
Publication date:	09/26/2024
Series:	Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship , #62
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	271 KB

About the Author

Neal Rappleye is director of research at Scripture Central. He is involved in ongoing research on many facets of the Book of Mormon’s historical context, including ancient Jerusalem, ancient Arabia, the ancient Near East more broadly, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and the nineteenth-century witnesses to the discovery and translation of the Book of Mormon plates. His research has been published with BYU Studies, The Interpreter Foundation, Scripture Central, Greg Kofford Books, and Covenant Communications.

Allen Hansen is an independent researcher born and raised in northern Israel. He served a mission in Russia, and married Kateryna from Ukraine. They are parents to a daughter. His research interests include the Bible, ancient, medieval and early modern Jewish literature, Book of Mormon translation, and the meeting points between the Church, Judaism, and the history of Israel.