Names of Jerusalem
Names of Jerusalem refers to the multiple names by which the city of Jerusalem has been known and the etymology of the word in different languages. According to the Jewish Midrash, "Jerusalem has 70 names". Lists have been compiled of 72 different Hebrew names for Jerusalem in Jewish scripture.
Today, Jerusalem is called Yerushalayim and Al-Quds. Yerushalayim is a derivation of a much older name, recorded as early as in the Middle Bronze Age, which has however been repeatedly re-interpreted in folk etymology, notably in Biblical Greek, where the first element of the name came to be associated with . The city is also known, especially among Muslims, as Bayt al-Maqdis, referring to the Temple in Jerusalem, called Beit HaMikdash in Hebrew.
Early extra-biblical and biblical names
Jerusalem
A city called Ꜣwšꜣmm in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and typically reconstructed as Rušalim is usually identified as Jerusalem. Nadav Na'aman proposed that the name should instead be understood as r'š + rmm, meaning 'the exalted head', and so not referring to Jerusalem, but Na'aman withdrew this objection in 2023.Jerusalem is called either Urusalim
or Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba.
The Sumero-Akkadian name for Jerusalem, uru-salim, is variously etymologised to mean "foundation of the god Shalim": from West Semitic yrw, ‘to found, to lay a cornerstone’, and Shalim, the Canaanite god of the setting sun and the nether world, as well as of health and perfection.
Jerusalem is the name most commonly used in the Bible, and the name used by most of the Western World. The Biblical Hebrew form is Yerushalaim, adopted in Biblical Greek as Hierousalēm, Ierousalēm, or Hierosolyma, Ierosolyma, and in early Christian Bibles as Syriac Ūrišlem as well as Latin Hierosolyma or Ierusalem. In Arabic, this name occurs in the form Ūrsālim which is the Arabic name promoted by the Israeli government.
The name "Shalem", whether as a town or a deity, is derived from the same root Š-L-M as the word "shalom", meaning peace, so that the common interpretation of the name is now "The City of Peace" or "Abode of Peace", indicating a sanctuary.
The ending -ayim indicates the dual in Hebrew, thus leading to the suggestion that the name refers to the two hills on which the city sits. However, the pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint. In fact, in the unvocalized Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible the yod that would be required for the -ayim ending is almost always absent. It is only the much later vocalization, with the vowel marks for a and i squeezed together between the lamed and the mem, that provides the basis for this reading. In extra-biblical inscriptions, the earliest known example of the -ayim ending was discovered on a column about 3 km west of ancient Jerusalem, dated to the first century BCE.
In Genesis Rabbah 56:10, the name is interpreted as a combination of yir'eh, "He will see," and Shalem, the city of King Melchizedek. A similar theory is offered by Philo in his discussion of the term "God's city." Other midrashim say that Jerusalem means "City of Peace".
In Greek, the city is called either Ierousalēm or Hierosolyma. The latter exhibits yet another re-etymologization, by association with the word hieros. In early Greek manuscripts, Ἱερουσαλήμ is presented as a "holy name":.
In Jewish Tradition
In Jewish tradition, the notion that "Jerusalem has seventy names" is a widely cited midrashic concept originating in Bamidbar Rabbah. This number is not intended to be a literal or exhaustive linguistic tally, but rather a symbolic representation of the city’s multifaceted character and its central importance in Jewish consciousness; in Hebrew numerology, seventy represents the "seventy nations of the world," suggesting that the city holds significance for all of humanity. Various medieval scholars and commentators have attempted to compile these lists, drawing primarily from poetic epithets found throughout the Tanakh, particularly in the books of Isaiah, Psalms, and Lamentations. These names range from descriptions of its physical beauty, such as Klilat Yofi, to its spiritual function, like Ir Ha-Emet. The sheer variety of names, representing the city in states of both desolation and former glory, reflects the emotional depth and historical layers attributed to the city in Jewish thought.Shalem
The name Shalem/Salem is found in the account of Melchizedek in : And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.That the name Salem refers to Jerusalem is evidenced by Psalm 76:2 which uses "Salem" as a parallel for "Zion", the citadel of Jerusalem. The same identification is made by Josephus and the Aramaic translations of the Bible.
| Language | Name | Translit. |
| Greek | Σαλήμ | Salēm |
| Greek | Σόλυμα | Solyma |
| Biblical Latin | Salem | |
| Arabic | سَـالِـم | Sālim |
| Hebrew | שָׁלֵם | Šālēm |
Shalem was the Canaanite god of dusk, sunset, and the end of the day, also spelled Shalim. Many scholars believe that his name is preserved in the name of the city Jerusalem. It is believed by some scholars that the name of Jerusalem comes from Uru + Shalem, meaning the foundation of Shalem or founded by Shalem or city of Shalem, and that Shalem was the city god of the place before El Elyon.
Zion
Mount Zion was originally the name of the hill where the Jebusite fortress stood, but the name was later applied to the Temple Mount just to the north of the fortress, also known as Mount Moriah, possibly also referred to as "Daughter of Zion".From the Second Temple era, the name came to be applied to a hill just to the south-west of the walled city. This latter hill is still known as Mount Zion today. From the point of view of the Babylonian exile, Zion has come to be used as a synonym of the city of Jerusalem as a whole.
Other biblical names
- Mount Moriah was a part of Jebus, a city inhabited by the Jebusites. According to the Bible, this land was sold to King David by Ornan the Jebusite for six hundred shekels of gold in order to build in the threshing floor an altar for sacrifice to stop the plague God had sent upon Israel. Solomon later built the Temple there. The Jebusite stronghold at that time was called Zion which David took by force, and it afterward began to be called The City of David.
- * Biblical Hebrew מוריה
- * Biblical Greek Μώριας ''Mōrias
- * Biblical Latin Moria
- * Arabic مُـرِيَّـا or مُـرَيَّـا
- * Hebrew מוֹרִיָּה Môriyyāh
- City of David: The City of David is the biblical term for the Iron Age walled fortress; now the name of the corresponding archaeological site just south of the Temple Mount
- Jebus in
- The Lord sees, Hebrew Adonai-jireh, in Vulgate Latin Dominus videt. In the opinion of some Rabbinic commentators, the combination of Yir'eh with Shalem is the origin of the name Jerusalem.
- Oasis of Justice, Hebrew Neveh Tzedek, Tiberian Hebrew נְוֵה-צֶדֶק Nəwēh Ṣeḏeq.
- Ariel in Isaiah 29:1–8
- City of the Holy Place/Holiness, Hebrew Ir Ha-Kodesh / Ir Ha-Kedosha, in Isa 48:42, Isa 51:1, Dan 9:24 Neh 11:1 and Neh 11:18.
- City of the Great King
- * Hebrew: kiryat melekh rav as in.
- * Koine Greek: polis megalou basileos as in.
- * Tiberian Hebrew קִרְיַת מֶלֶךְ רָב Qiryaṯ Meleḵ Rāḇ''
Middle Persian
According to "Shahnameh", ancient Iranian used "Kangdezh Hûkht" کَـنْـگ دِژ هُـوْخْـت or "Dezhkang Hûkht" دِژ کَـنْـگ هُـوْخْـت to name Jerusalem. "Kang Diz Huxt" means "holy palace" and was the capital of "Zahhak" and also "Fereydun's" kingdom.Another variant of the name is Kang-e Dozhhûkht, which is attested in Shahnameh. It means " accursed Kang".
Greco-Roman
Aelia Capitolina was the Roman name given to Jerusalem in the 2nd century, after the destruction of the Second Temple. The name refers to Hadrian's family, the gens Aelia, and to the hill temple of Jupiter built on the remains of the Temple.During the later Roman Era, the city was expanded to the area now known as the Old City of Jerusalem. Population increased during this period, peaking at several hundred thousand, numbers only reached again in the modern city, in the 1960s.
From this name derives Tiberian Hebrew ʼÊliyyāh Qappîṭôlînāh. The Roman name was loaned as, early in the Middle Ages, and appears in some Hadith, like Bayt ul-Maqdis.
Islamic
Jerusalem fell to the Muslim conquest of Palestine in 638.The medieval city corresponded to what is now known as the Old City.
The modern Arabic name of Jerusalem is اَلْـقُـدْس al-Quds, and its first recorded use can be traced to the 9th century CE, two hundred years after the Muslim conquest of the city. Prior to the use of this name, the names used for Jerusalem were إِيْـلْـيَـاء Īlyā' and بَـيْـت الْـمَـقْـدِس Bayt al-Maqdis, alternatively vocalized as بَـيْـت الْـمُـقَـدَّس Bayt al-Muqaddas.
Al-Quds is the most common Arabic name for Jerusalem and is used by many cultures influenced by Islam. The name may have been shortened from مَـدِيـنَـة الْـقُـدْس Madīnat al-Quds, a calque of the Hebrew name for the city, Ir HaKodesh. The variant اَلْـقُـدْس الـشَّـرِيْـف al-Quds aš-Šarīf has also been used, notably by the Ottomans in the Turkish form Kudüs-i Şerîf.
- Azerbaijani – Yerusəlim, Qüds, or Qüdsi-Şərif
- Kurdish – / Orşelîm or /Quds,
- Persian –, Qods
- Standard Hebrew –, HaKodesh
- Tiberian Hebrew –, HaQodhesh "The Holy"
- Turkish – Kudüs or Yeruşalim
- Urdu –, Quds,, Quds Śarīf or, Yaroślam
- Avar – Байтул Макъдис, Baytul Maqdis
- Azerbaijani – Beytül-Müqəddəs
- Indonesian – Baitulmaqdis
- Kurdish – / Beytî Muqeddes
- Malay – Baitulmuqaddis
- Persian –, Beit-e Moghaddas
- Turkish Beyt-i Mukaddes
- Urdu –, Bait-ul-Muqaddas
Ṣahyūn is the word for Zion in Arabic and Syriac. Drawing on biblical tradition, it is one of the names accorded to Jerusalem in Arabic and Islamic tradition.