Editing Damascus (section)

=={{anchor|Names and etymology}}Names and etymology==
{{see also|Names of Damascus in different languages}}
{{hiero|ṯmsqw<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gauthier |first1=Henri |title=Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 6 |date=1929 |page=42 |url=https://archive.org/details/Gauthier1929/page/n23/}}</ref>|<hiero>ti-ms-q-w-xAst</hiero> '''or''' <hiero>ti-ms-z:q-w</hiero>|era=nk|align=left}}
The name of Damascus first appeared in the geographical list of [[Thutmose III]] as {{transliteration|egy|ṯmśq}} ({{lang|egy|{{script|Egyp|{{huge|𓍘𓄟𓊃𓈎𓅱}}}}}}) in the 15th century BC.<ref>List I, 13 in J. Simons, ''[https://oi-idb-static.uchicago.edu/multimedia/2380/simons_topographical_lists_1937.pdf Handbook for the Study of Egyptian Topographical Lists relating to Western Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726072325/https://oi-idb-static.uchicago.edu/multimedia/2380/simons_topographical_lists_1937.pdf |date=26 July 2018 }}'', Leiden 1937. See also Y. AHARONI, ''The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography'', London 1967, p147, No. 13.</ref>
The [[etymology]] of the ancient name {{transliteration|egy|ṯmśq}} is uncertain. It is attested as {{transliteration|akk|Imerišú}} ({{lang|akk|𒀲𒋙}}) in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], {{transliteration|egy|ṯmśq}} ({{lang|egy|{{script|Egyp|{{huge|𓍘𓄟𓊃𓈎𓅱}}}}}}) in [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]], {{transliteration|arc|Damašq}} ({{lang|arc|{{script|Armi|𐡃𐡌𐡔𐡒}}}}) in [[Aramaic language|Old Aramaic]] and {{transliteration|he|Dammeśeq}} ({{lang|he|דַּמֶּשֶׂק}}) in [[Biblical Hebrew language|Biblical Hebrew]]. A number of Akkadian spellings are found in the [[Amarna letters]], from the 14th century BC: {{transliteration|akk|Dimašqa}} ({{lang|akk|𒁲𒈦𒋡}}), {{transliteration|akk|Dimašqì}} ({{lang|akk|𒁲𒈦𒀸𒄀}}), and {{transliteration|akk|Dimašqa}} ({{lang|akk|𒁲𒈦𒀸𒋡}}).

Later [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] spellings of the name often include an intrusive ''[[resh]]'' (letter ''r''), perhaps influenced by the root {{transliteration|arc|dr}}, meaning "dwelling". Thus, the English and [[Latin]] name of the city is {{transliteration|la|Damascus}}, which was imported from [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|Δαμασκός}} and originated from the [[Qumran]]ic {{transliteration|he|Darmeśeq}} ({{lang|he|דרמשק}}), and {{transliteration|syr|Darmsûq}} ({{lang|syr|{{script|Syrc|ܕܪܡܣܘܩ}}}}) in [[Syriac language|Syriac]],<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1357008|title=''Ancient Damascus: A Historical Study of the Syrian City-State from Earliest Times Until Its Fall to the Assyrians in 732 BC.'', Wayne T. Pitard|author= Paul E. Dion|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|issue= 270|date=May 1988|page= 98}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1356214 |title=The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus|author=Frank Moore Cross|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|issue= 205|date=Feb 1972|page= 40 |doi=10.2307/1356214|s2cid=163497507}}</ref> meaning "a well-watered land".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Catherine |last2=Al-Wer |first2=Enam |last3=Caubet |first3=Dominique|last4=Watson |first4=Janet C.E. |date=2007 |title=Arabic in the City: Issues in Dialect Contact and Language Variation |publisher=Routledge |page=189 |isbn=978-1135978761 }}</ref>

In [[Arabic language|Arabic]], the city is called Dimashq ({{lang|ar|دمشق}} {{transliteration|ar|Dimašq}}).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kalmasoft - Phonetic Database of Syriac Words|url=http://www.kalmasoft.com/KLEX/dbsyriac.htm|access-date=2021-06-20|website=www.kalmasoft.com|archive-date=16 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616165306/https://kalmasoft.com/KLEX/dbsyriac.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The city is also known as {{transliteration|ar|aš-Šām}} by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbors and Turkey ({{Transliteration|tr|Şam}}). {{transliteration|ar|Aš-Šām}} is an Arabic term for "[[Levant]]" and for "Syria"; the latter, and particularly the historical [[Syria (region)|region of Syria]], is called {{transliteration|ar|Bilād aš-Šām}} ({{lang|ar|بلاد الشام}}, {{lit|land of the Levant}}).{{refn|group="note"|Historically, ''[[Baalshamin]]'' ({{langx|arc|ܒܥܠ ܫܡܝܢ|Ba'al Šamem|lit=Lord of Heaven(s)}}),<ref>{{cite book|author=Teixidor, Javier|title=The Pagan God: Popular Religion in the Greco-Roman Near East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m5Z9BgAAQBAJ&q=Baalshamin%20%27Lord%20of%20Heaven%28s%29%27&pg=PA27|access-date=14 August 2017|year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400871391|pages=27|archive-date=2 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402185800/https://books.google.com/books?id=m5Z9BgAAQBAJ&q=Baalshamin%20%27Lord%20of%20Heaven%28s%29%27&pg=PA27|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Beattie, Andrew|author2=Pepper, Timothy|title=The Rough Guide to Syria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iCfkTe8v2EC&q=Baalshamin%20%27Lord%20of%20Heaven%28s%29%27&pg=RA2-PA290|access-date=14 August 2017|year=2001|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781858287188|pages=290|archive-date=2 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402185801/https://books.google.com/books?id=9iCfkTe8v2EC&q=Baalshamin%20%27Lord%20of%20Heaven%28s%29%27&pg=RA2-PA290|url-status=live}}</ref> was a [[Ancient Semitic religion|Semitic sky-god]] in [[Canaan]]/[[Phoenicia]] and ancient [[Palmyra]].<ref name="Dirven1999">{{cite book|author=Dirven, Lucinda|title=The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos: A Study of Religious Interaction in Roman Syria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LfXg2r6FT0C&pg=PA76|access-date=17 July 2012|year=1999|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11589-7|pages=76|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216195727/https://books.google.com/books?id=_LfXg2r6FT0C&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76|archive-date=16 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=J.F. Healey|title=The Religion of the Nabataeans: A Conspectus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hbO9CwAAQBAJ&q=Baalshamin%20sky%20god&pg=PA126|access-date=14 August 2017|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004301481|pages=126}}</ref> Hence, Sham refers to (''heaven'' or ''sky'').}} The latter term etymologically means "land of the left-hand side" or "the north", as someone in the [[Hijaz]] facing east, oriented to the sunrise, will find the north to the left. This is contrasted with the name of [[Yemen]] ({{lang|ar|اَلْيَمَن}} {{transliteration|ar|al-Yaman}}), correspondingly meaning "the right-hand side" or "the south". The variation {{lang|ar|ش ء م}} ({{transliteration|ar|š-ʾ-m}}'), of the more typical {{lang|ar|ش م ل}} ({{transliteration|ar|š-m-l}}), is also attested in [[Old South Arabian]], {{lang|xsa|{{script|Sarb|𐩦𐩱𐩣}}}} ({{transliteration|xsa|šʾm}}), with the same semantic development.<ref name="Volume 9 1997 page 261">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edomond |author-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |title=AL-SHĀM |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |volume=9 |year=1997 |page=261}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Younger| first = K. Lawson Jr.| title = A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities (Archaeology and Biblical Studies)| publisher = SBL Press| date = 7 October 2016| location = Atlanta, GA| pages = 551| language = en| isbn =978-1589831285}}</ref>