Bethlehem

== Etymology ==
The current name for Bethlehem in local languages is {{Audio|ArBethlehem.ogg|''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Bayt Laḥm}}''|help=no}} in Arabic ({{lang-ar|بيت لحم}}), literally meaning "house of meat", and ''{{transliteration|he|Bet Leḥem}}'' in Hebrew ({{lang-he|בֵּית לֶחֶם}}), literally "house of bread" or "house of food."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/663773367 |title=Corpus inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: a multi-lingual corpus of the inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad |publisher=[[de Gruyter]] |others=Eran Lupu, Marfa Heimbach, Naomi Schneider, Hannah Cotton |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-11-022219-7 |volume=IV: Iudaea / Idumaea |location=Berlin |pages=635 |oclc=663773367 |quote=The name Bethlehem (Hebr. Bet Leḥem; LXX Βηθλέεμ; Βαιθλέεμ; Aramaic Bêt leḥem) combines the Hebrew words ''bayit'' "house" and ''leḥem'' "bread" and thus means "house of bread/food." Some claim that it is connected with the verb root ''lḥm'' "to fight," whence it would mean "house of war/fighting." That seems less likely. It has also been suggested that there is a connection with the name of the Mesopotamian goddess, Laḫmu, the mother of Anšar (sky) and Kišar (earth) in the Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish, but this is generally rejected.}}</ref> The city was called in {{Lang-grc|Βηθλεέμ}} {{IPA-grc|bɛːtʰle.ém}} and in {{lang-la|Bethleem}}.<ref name="Loschp512">{{cite book |author=Losch, Richard R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5GJaakRvPgC&pg=PA51 |title=The uttermost part of the earth: a guide to places in the Bible |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8028-2805-7 |edition=Illustrated |page=51 |access-date=October 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122131920/https://books.google.com/books?id=S5GJaakRvPgC&pg=PA51 |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The earliest mention of Bethlehem as a place appears in the [[Amarna letters|Amarna correspondence]] ({{circa|1400&nbsp;BCE}}), in which it is referred to as ''Bit-Laḫmi'',<ref name="auto">"''Oxford Archeological Guides: The Holy Land''", [[Jerome Murphy-O'Connor]], pp. 198–199, Oxford University Press, 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-19-288013-0}}</ref> a name for which the origins remain unknown. One longstanding suggestion in scholarship is that it derives from the [[Mesopotamian myths|Mesopotamian]] or [[Canaanite religion|Canaanite]] fertility god [[Lahmu|Laḫmu]] and his consort sister [[Lahamu]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Bethlehem#etymonline_v_30442 |title=Bethledhem |work=Etymology Online}}</ref> ''lahmo'' being the [[Aramaic|Chaldean]] word for "fertility".<ref name="Loschp512" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=G. R. H. |date=1986-01-01 |title=The Mother-Maid at Bethlehem |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/zatw.1986.98.1.56/html |journal=Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |language= |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=56–72 |doi=10.1515/zatw.1986.98.1.56 |issn=1613-0103 |quote=The form of the name Bethlehem certainly connotes that the latter element is not a common noun but a proper noun, the name of a god who has his temple (house) there - cf. Beth Shemesh etc. Accordingly the literal version, House of Bread, has been put down as folk etymology. Divine names can be found to fit the bill; e.g., Lahmu and Lahamu mentioned in the Babylonian creation epic as offspring of Apsu and Tiamat (v. Staples, AJSL 52, 149—50). Since, however, the name as generally understood is so apt for an agricultural fertility cult centre, it is possible that the question has not been fully probed (cf. Interpreters' Bible Vol. 2, 853). |s2cid=170130221}}</ref> Biblical scholar [[William F. Albright]] believed that this hypothesis, first put forth by Otto Schroeder, was "certainly accurate".{{efn|The explanation of Bet-leḥem as the "House of (the god) Lahmu" is due to Otto Schroeder, OLZ, 1915, pp. 294 f. This explanation is certainly correct [...]{{sfn|Albright|1936}}}} Albright noted that the pronunciation of the name had remained essentially the same for 3,500 years, even if the perceived meaning had shifted over time: "'Temple of the God Lakhmu' in Canaanite, 'House of Bread' in Hebrew and [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], 'House of Meat' in Arabic."{{sfn|Albright|1936}} While Schroeder's theory is not widely accepted,<ref name=":1" /> it continues to find favour in academic literature over the later literal translations.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wasilewski |first=E. |date=2016 |title=Pastoral exhortations – a key to preliminary homiletic research |journal=The Biblical and Liturgical Movement |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=125–142 |doi=10.21906/rbl.187|doi-access=free }}</ref> Another suggestion is an association with the root ''l-h-m'' "to fight", but this is thought unlikely.<ref name=":1" />{{why|date=February 2023}}