Talk:Place names of Palestine

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Did you know... that most of the place names in Palestine are Arabised words with ancient Semitic roots that were preserved by the local indigenous population, facilitating their identification with biblical sites?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/November.

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Roots of place names in Palestine[edit]

Just a question, do you have any sources that discuss the words "Beit", "Bayt", "Bet" and "Beth"? As in Beitin and Bethel, Beit Lahm and Bethlehem, and Bayt Jibrin has so many alternatives. --Al Ameer son (talk) 17:50, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I will find you some. But I can tell you from my own (minimal) knowledge of proto-Canaanite alphabets, that "beit", the letter, has meant house/home since the earliest written history. Give me a bit and I'll get some stuff for you on it. Tiamut^talk 17:56, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks so much. It's really great to have you back! WP Palestine has certainly missed you. --Al Ameer son (talk) 17:58, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Al Ameer Son. I missed you guys too.

So here is something. It seems that during the development of the proto-Sinaitic and proto-Canaanite alphabets, Canaanite scribes assigned phonetic values to Egytian hieroglyphs. For example, the hierogylph for "house" was assigned the value "B" because the Semitic word for house began with a "B" (i.e. beit/bayit, this being true for both proto-Sinatic and proto-Canaanite scripts). They then named places in this fashion. I'm quite sure that Beit Jibrin has an older Canaanite root name that accounts for the Aramaic Beth Gabra, but it's hard to find sources on this subject with all the different possibl transliterations for the Semitic names. Anyway, I'll keep looking for more and let you know as things pop up. Tiamut^talk 18:09, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Here is something on Bethel: Its meaning is derived from the Ugaritic root bt il, meaning "House of El". [1] Tiamut^talk 18:33, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Arab" in the village name[edit]

Does anyone know the significance of the name "Arab" in the names of villages such as: Arab al-'Arida, Arab al-Bawati, Arab al-Fuqara, Arab al-Nufay'at, Arab al-Safa, Arab al-Samniyya, Arab al-Shamalina, Arab al-Zubayd, Arab Suqrir, Arab Zahrat al-Dumayri? Onceinawhile (talk) 16:54, 2 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Need source, but usually denotes a Bedouin hamlet, whether a permanent settlement whose inhabitants were Bedouin who sedentarized or their descendants, or a seasonal village for semi-nomadic Bedouin. —Al Ameer (talk) 23:31, 2 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

What Al Ammer son said. The second part of the name is commonly the name of the tribe though I don't know if that's universally true. Zero^talk 06:44, 3 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That's what I had guessed. I have looked for a source but haven’t found one yet. Most of the relevant village articles don’t mention the Bedouin connections either. Onceinawhile (talk) 07:31, 3 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The "short glossary" in the Palestine Index Gazetteer (Government of Palestine, 1947) defines 'Arab thus: "Collective singular, i.e. collection, tribe, or camp of Arabs". Zero^talk 10:21, 3 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A big mix[edit]

The article lost its way. It's far from clear what it wants to present. What is now titled "History" is a well-written general presentation, but most of the rest is a collection of disparate ideas, lists, and unfinalised intentions. This talk-page is more focused than much of the article. As it is now, it's a lost case & an orphan. Arminden (talk) 21:01, 28 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]