Note 539 — Chapter VI · THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY (continued 3)

To these the Chronicler adds ‘Beth-horon the Upper’ (2 Chron. viii. 5). Possibly the two Beth-horons were fortified in connection with the reservoirs which Solomon is supposed to have constructed in order to supply Jerusalem with water. Baalath was, strictly speaking, in Dan (Josh. xix. 44). The Latin form Palmyra comes from Tadmor by assimilation to palma, ‘a palm.’ The change of d to l in Latin words is familiar to etymologists, and the initial p for t is paralleled by pavo, ‘a peacock,’ from the Greek ταὧς (Persian tâwûs). One of the Septuagint MSS. has Thermath for Tadmor, but in the ordinary text the whole passage is omitted.