🔼The name Zalmonah: Summary
- Meaning
- Place Of The Idol
- Etymology
- From the noun צלם (selem), image or idol.
🔼The name Zalmonah in the Bible
The name Zalmonah occurs in only one scene in the Bible. In the Book of Numbers it's mentioned as one of the stations of the Israelites during the wandering years. Zalmonah was visited after Mount Hor and prior to Punon (Numbers 33:41-42).
🔼Etymology of the name Zalmonah
The name Zalmonah either comes from an otherwise unused root צלם (slm) that means to be dark or shady (see our article on the similar name Zalmon for a discussion of this), or it derives from the often used noun צלם (selem), meaning image:
צלם
The unused verb צלם (salam) probably meant something like to cut off or mass produce by means of an industrial stamp. Noun צלם (selem) means image or idol (and note that this definition also covers coins).
The final end of our name is constructed from the familiar ון (waw-nun) couple, which in theory forms a diminutive but in practice personifies or localizes the core idea of the root. And the difference between this name and Zalmon is that Zalmonah is made feminine by suffixing it with the extension ה (he).
🔼Zalmonah meaning
For a meaning of the name Zalmonah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List goes with the unused root and reads Shady. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names follows suit and also proposes Shady, but adds Little Image, after the common noun צלם (selem). BDB Theological Dictionary does not offer an interpretation of this name.
A similar name is Iconium.