The name "Himni" in the Book of Mormon

Parent page: Book of Mormon Names

Book of Mormon Names—Location of specific Egyptian names

In The Improvement Era for April, 1948, the author published a map showing the clustering of Book of Mormon names in the up-river country of Egypt, south of Thebes. The map bore the caption:

The tendency of Book of Mormon names to turn up in definite limited areas and in close association with each other is a strong indication that the resemblances between the Old and New World titles are not accidental.5

As a reader of the article will perceive, we were, at that time, at a loss to explain a phenomenon which we felt was "not accidental." But soon after, we came across the answer in Professor Albright's observation that when Jerusalem fell the very Jews who had persecuted Lehi "[hid] in the wilds during the siege," and when all was lost fled to Egypt. In particular they went to upper Egypt, where the Jews had a very special settlement at Elephantine, far up the Nile. Albright even suggests that the main colonization of Elephantine took place as a result of the flight from Jerusalem at that time.6 Since Egypt was then the lone survivor against Nebuchadnezzar, it was only to Egypt that his enemies could flee. But since Egypt was also an objective of Nebuchadnezzar's victorious campaign, the safest place for any refugee to that land would be as far up the river as he could get. That is therefore where one would logically expect to find the Book of Mormon names, that is, the Jewish names of Lehi's days; but before he knew the explanation, this writer was puzzled by the fact, which to him seemed paradoxical, that our Book of Mormon names should congregate so very far from home.^[1]

Hugh Nibley: "Hmn (OW), a name of the Egyptian hawk-god"

Hugh Nibley:

Himni (BM), a son of King Mosiah. Hmn (OW), a name of the Egyptian hawk-god, symbol of the emperor."^[2]

"the name Himni is clearly Hebrew and is represented by the unvocalized form, Hmn on two Israelite seals"

Tvedtnes, Gee and Roper:

the name Himni is clearly Hebrew and is represented by the unvocalized form, Hmn on two Israelite seals. The first, from the eighth century BC, was found at Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley. The other is from the first half of the seventh century BC. Because the seal inscriptions do not have vowels, we cannot know precisely how the name is to be read. The Bible knows of a non-Israelite Haman from the time of Esther, and Heman was a noted poet and musician in the time of David and Solomon. The vowel at the end of Himni suggests that it is a gentillic form, meaning "Hemanite". ^[3]

Notes

1. ↑ Hugh W. Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 3rd edition, (Vol. 6 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by John W. Welch, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988), Chapter 22, references silently removed—consult original for citations.
2. ↑ Hugh W. Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites, edited by John W. Welch with Darrell L. Matthew and Stephen R. Callister, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988), Chapter 2.
3. ↑ John A. Tvedtnes, John Gee, Matthew Roper, "Book of Mormon Names Attested in Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9/1 (2000): 40–51.