Editing Bethlehem (section)

==Etymology==
The current name for Bethlehem in local languages is {{Audio|ArBethlehem.ogg|''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Bayt Laḥm}}''|help=no}} /Bēt laḥm/ in Arabic ({{langx|ar|بيت لحم}}), literally meaning "house of meat", and ''{{transliteration|he|Bet Leḥem}}'' in Hebrew ({{langx|he|בֵּית לֶחֶם}}), literally "house of bread" or "house of food."<ref name= CIIP>{{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><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |last2=Zadok |first2=Ran |date=2023 |title=Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy: A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan's Endowment Deed (1552) |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0cs6f5k5 |journal=Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins |language=en |volume=139 |issue=2}}</ref> The city was called in {{Langx|grc|Βηθλεέμ}} {{IPA|grc|bɛːtʰle.ém}} and in {{langx|la|Bethleem}}.<ref name= Losch>{{cite book |author=Losch, Richard R. |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 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5GJaakRvPgC&pg=PA51 |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> In Aramaic, the name of Bethlehem was simply the Hebrew name בית לחם, and was pronounced as Beit Lekhem.  Evidence for this spelling can be inferred based on the fact that the spelling ܒܝܬܠܚܡ can be found in the Syriac Aramaic version of the bible in Matthew 2<ref name="SyrBib">{{cite web |title=Syriac Bible - Matthew 2 |url=https://www.syriacbible.nl/matthew/2.htm |language=Syriac}}</ref> as well as other parts of the book.  The letters ܒܝܬܠܚܡ transliterate to ביתלחם.  [[Amarna letter EA290]] makes reference to a town bīt-ninurta which has been read as Bit-Lachmi by scholar [[W. F. Albright]], following a proposal by Otto Schroeder in 1815 and making it a potential first historical reference to Bethlehem. This reading is, however, uncertain and has met with objections.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wJOYDgAAQBAJ&dq=Albright+was+quick+to+pick+up+on+Schroeder%27s+claim+to+have+found+the+first+mention+of+Bethlehem.+But+he+offered+a+different+and+far+simpler+translation.+He+argued+that+the+cuneiform&pg=PT51 | title=Bethlehem: Biography of a Town | isbn=978-1-56858-584-0 | last1=Blincoe | first1=Nicholas | date=November 7, 2017 | publisher=PublicAffairs }}</ref>

==="House of the god Lahmu"===
Canaanite and Israelite toponyms starting with ''beth'' are interpreted to mean "house of", with 'house' understood as 'temple' and the second part of the name indicating the deity the local temple was dedicated to.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Rainey |first= A. F. |author-link= Anson Rainey |title= The Toponymics of Eretz-Israel |journal=[[Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|BASOR]] |number= 231 |date= October 1978 |pages= 1–17 (6) |doi= 10.2307/1356743 |jstor= 1356743 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1356743 |access-date=May 14, 2024 |issn = 0003-097X }}</ref><ref name= Mum>{{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> Accordingly, one longstanding suggestion in scholarship is that the name Bethlehem 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= Losch/><ref name= Mum/> Biblical scholar [[William F. Albright]] believed that this hypothesis, first put forth by Otto Schröder, was "certainly accurate".{{efn|The explanation of Bet-leḥem as the "House of (the god) Lahmu" is due to Otto Schröder, 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 Schröder's theory is not widely accepted,<ref name= CIIP/> 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>

==="House of war"===
Another suggestion is an association with the root ''l-h-m'' "to fight", leading to the meaning of "house of war" or "house of fighting", but this is thought unlikely.<ref name= CIIP/>{{why|date=February 2023}}