The Name

The Name.

The name "Jerusalem" is written in the Old Testament and upon most of the old Hebrew coins defectively , though punctuated "Yerushalayim" as a "kere perpetuum" (with the exception of five places where the "yod" is added; Frensdorff, "Massora Magna," p. 293). The Aramaic form, "Yerushlem" (Ezra iv. 8, 20, 24, 51), the Syriac "Urishlem," the Septuagint transcription 'Ιερουσαλημ, the Assyrian "Urusalim" (El-Amarna tablets) and "Ursalimu" (Sennacherib), point to an original pronunciation "Yerushalem"; the ending "-ayim" either being due to a diphthongization or representing a dual formation (König, "Lehrgebäude," ii. pt. 1, p. 437). A shortened form is perhaps to be found in "Shalem" (Gen. xiv. 18; Ps. lxxvi. 3; comp. Josephus, "Ant." i. 10, § 2), known also to the Arabs ("Shallam," in Yakut, "Geographisches Wörterb." iii. 315). Several etymologies for the word have been suggested; e.g., = "possession of peace" or "of Salem"; "foundation of peace" or "of Shalem [God of peace]"; according to the Midrash it is made up of "Shalem," the name given to the city by Shem, and "Yir'eh," that given to it by Abraham (Gen. R. lvi. 10; Midr. Teh. to Ps. lxxvi. 3). A more plausible derivation makes it the equivalent of "Uru-shalim" (="City of [the god] Shalim"; comp. the Assyrian god Shalman or Shulman, the Phenician [Greek Σαλαμαν], and the Egyptian Sharamana [Zimmern, in "K. A. T." 3d ed., pp. 224, 475; Praetorius, in "Z. D. M. G." lvii. p. 782), "Uri" having become "Yeru" by metathesis (see Haupt in "Isaiah," in "S. B. O. T." Eng. transl., p. 100). In the Greek period the name was Hellenized into Ιεροσόλνμα (Sibyllines, x. 103, New Testament, Josephus, Philo, and the classical writers). Following the New Testament, the Vulgate has both "Hierusalem" and "Hierosolyma" (or "Ierusalem," "Ierosolyma"). Philo uses the name Ιερόπολις (ed. Mangey, ii. 524). Under Hadrian (135) the city was renamed "Ælia Capitolina," from which Ptolemy took his Καπιτολιας. The Arabs at times preserved the ancient forms "Urishalam," "Urishallam," "Uraslam" (Yakut, l.c. i. 402), or "Iliya" (ib. 423), or more commonly "Bait al-Makdis" or "al-Mukaddas" (ib. iv. 590); in modern parlance, "Al-kuds al-Sharif" or simply "Al-kuds" = "the Sanctuary."
(see image) Sketch Showing Topographical Features of Jerusalem.(After Fulton, "The Beautiful Land.")

Jerusalem