Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land: Preservation and History Yoel Elitzur

The 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 observed a large proportion of ancient toponyms preserved in Arab speech right up to the 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 user of this valuable tool is not governed by any clear-cut rules. Scholars could always find corroboration for any propose 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. Dr. Yoel Elitzur is engaged in integrated research in several disciplines: Bible, Hebrew language and the historical geography of the Land of Israel. He is head of the Department of Eretz-Israel Studies at Herzog College, and teaches at the Jerusalem College and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.