Sunday, November 27, 2011

How Jerusalem got its name.

It is a recorded fact that Tamils and the ancient Hebrew people were in touch for trade. So it's highly possible for Tamil words to have seeped into the Judaic world. Wikipedia says that Jerusalem was derived from Yerushalyim.

The explanation put out doesn't have a ring of certainty. Given the unsure nature of the etymology, it might help to view it from a Tamil prism. Yeru is a Tamil word meaning to climb and Shailam means hill. So why shouldn't Jerusalem mean 'Climb the hill'? Two evidences can be adduced in support of this theory:

1. Jerusalem sits on seven hills.
2. Salem (a city in Tamil Nadu) got its name because its surrounded by hills.

Doesn't that make you go hmmmmmmmm?

UPDATE: Samanth Subramaniam has come up with an even better suggestion. Yezhu Shailam means Seven Hills. Yezhu could have been corrupted to Yeru Shailam, right?

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