What does the title “Rabbanah” teach us about the Book of Mormon?

Thomas R. Valletta

“Some appellations in the Book of Mormon were obviously influenced by a Hebrew background. For example, when the Lamanite servants of king Lamoni spoke to Ammon, they called him rabbanah, which the Book of Mormon interprets to mean ‘powerful or great king’ (Alma 18:13). Rabbanah resembles Hebrew words that derive from a common Semitic root rbb meaning ‘to be big or many.’ Even more telling for Book of Mormon history is that the Lamanites, who seem to have strayed culturally from their Nephite cousins, still preserved their Hebrew/Semitic language background” (Largey, Book of Mormon Reference Companion, 580).

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