The "round ball of curious workmanship" that was made of "fine brass" is later known in the Book of Mormon as the Liahona. (Alma 37:38.) This name is evidently a transliteration from the original language of Lehi, and Reynolds and Sjodahl have suggested the following meaning for it:
LIAHONA. This interesting word is Hebrew with an Egyptian ending. It is the name which Lehi gave to the ball or director he found outside his tent the very day he began his long journey through the "wilderness," after his little company had rested for some time in the Valley of Lemuel. (1 Nephi 16:10; Alma 37:38)L is a Hebrew preposition meaning "to," and sometimes used to express the possessive case. Iah is a Hebrew abbreviated form of "Jehovah," common in Hebrew names. On is the Hebrew name of the Egyptian "City of the Sun." . . . L-iah-on means, therefore, literally, "To God is Light"; or, "of God is Light." That is to say, God gives light, as does the Sun. The final a reminds us that the Egyptian form of the Hebrew name On is Annu, and that seems to be the form Lehi used . . .
Lehi gave the metal ball a name commemorative of one of the great experiences of his life . . . And, furthermore, he gave it a name that no one but a devout Hebrew influenced by Egyptian culture would have thought of. (Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 4:178-79.)