Abstract: In 1 Nephi 16:13–14, Nephi mentions the name Shazer as a toponym the Lehite clan bestowed on a site in western Arabia “four days” journey south-southeast of the valley of Laman. The Lehites used this site as a base camp for a major hunting expedition. A footnote to the first mention of the name Shazer in the 1981 and 2013 Latter-day Saint editions of the Book of Mormon has virtually enshrined “twisting, intertwining” as the presumed meaning of this toponym. However, the structure of Nephi’s text in 1 Nephi 16:12–13 suggests that the name Shazer serves as the bracketing for a chiastic description of the Lehites’ hunting expedition from the site. This chiasm recommends hunting as a possible starting point for seeking a more precise etymology for Shazer, one related to food supply. Consequently, I briefly argue for Shazer as a Semitic word (possibly also a loanword from an Old Arabic dialect) and a close cognate with both Hismaic šaṣar (“young gazelle,” plural šaṣr) and Arabic šaṣara (a type of “gazelle”).





The name Shazer represents one of only a handful of toponyms (place names) Nephi mentions in his small plates account of his family’s journey through the Arabian wilderness. Nephi reports that after the family finally broke camp and left the Valley of Lemuel, “we did take our tents and departed into the wilderness across the river Laman. And it came to pass that we traveled for the space of four days nearly a south- southeast direction. And we did pitch our tents again” (1 Nephi 16:12–13).1 At this point, Nephi notes that the Lehite clan gave the site of their camp the name “Shazer”:

[Page 2]A  [A]nd we did call the name of the place Shazer.

B And it came to pass that we did take our bows and our arrows and go forth into the wilderness

C to slay food for our families.
C′ And after that we had slain food for our families,
B′ we did return again to our families in the wilderness
A′ to the place of Shazer.2 (1 Nephi 16:13–14; emphasis in all scriptural citations added)
Lehi’s family undoubtedly relied on hunting for food, including the hunting of gazelles, during the early stages of their journey, though he does not mention such until 1 Nephi 16:13–14. In that passage, Nephi explicitly describes Shazer as a base camp for a major hunting expedition undertaken (presumably) by the adult men in the clan.3 Nephi frames his description of this wilderness hunting expedition using the name Shazer, which he mentions twice. Although Nephi does not give an explicit etiological explanation for their naming of Shazer (“...