Monday, May 18, 2015

Why is Jerusalem called Jerusalem?

FOR JERUSALEM DAY (YESTERDAY): Why is Jerusalem called Jerusalem? From its earliest name Ursalim, Jerusalem's name has mirrored the city's conquerors, passing through Jebus to the Roman Aelia Capitolina to al-Quds - and back to the ancient Israelite Yerushalayim. (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).

A good, accurate account of the names of the city from antiquity to the present. One small correction: Arabic and Ethiopic are South Semitic, not West Semitic. The author was perhaps thinking of Proto-Semitic, which is ancestral to all the Semitic languages.