Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land

Preservation and History By Yoel Elitzur This book proposes to answer a basic need in the historical geography of the Land of Israel, its implications for scholarship in Hebrew and Aramaic linguistics, Bible studies and numerous other areas. The earliest scholars of historical geography of the Holy Land served a large proportion of ancient toponyms preserved in Arab speech right up to modern times, and as a consequence, Arabic toponyms became a major source for the identification of ancient sites. For students of Hebrew and other Semitic languages, the toponymy of the Land of Israel provides a kind of ancient `recording’ of a pre-Arab linguistic inventory; in addition, scholars of Bible and Rabbinics, Qumran studies, Samaritan studies, early Christianity and the history of Islam find it of importance frequently. However, the problem is that as yet, the use of this valuable tool is not governed by any clear-cut rules. Scholars could always find corroboration for any proposed identification by pointing to a certain Arabic place name. The present volume is an attempt to formulate rules of toponym preservation based on positive identifications, and through these rules to deal with various historical and linguistic questions.