Brief Etymology: The Lehite PN LAMAN may plausibly derive from the Semitic root √lmn, found as a PN in the Northern Arabian Lihyanite dialect.

Extended Discussion: Though the PN LAMAN is quite likely from the Semitic trilateral root √lmn, whose meaning is uncertain, it is found only once as a proper name mentioned in Lihyanite inscription.

Lihyanite was a language spoken (and written) in the ancient north-west Arabian Peninsula in the mid-first millennium BC. LAMAN may also derive from, or be etymologically related to, the Safaitic l’mn, “mender.” The derivation of LAMAN from the Akkadian noun lemnu, “evil; evildoer,” and the Central Arabian laman, “scoundrel,” is somewhat less persuasive. Hugh Nibley, in his An Approach to the Book of Mormon, notes the Epigraphic South Arabian PN lmy as the origin of Lamnah, but also notes that the root √lmh, “assembly” (Arabic lamiya, “devour entirely”), which he describes as having a “defective” spelling, may actually be √lmn, thus generating the name LAMAN. It has been suggested that LAMAN is related to the “Lamans” Indian tribe in Honduras.