Zaphon
/ˈzæfɒn/noun
A biblical and ancient Near Eastern name for a sacred mountain associated with the storm god Baal, identified with Mount Ṣapānu in northern Syria.
Did you know?In Ugaritic mythology, Mount Ṣapānu was Baal’s dwelling, and biblical references to “the north” may preserve echoes of this older sacred geography.
Etymological Timeline
Late Bronze Age
Ugaritic
Ṣapānu
“The sacred mountain in northern Syria, associated with the storm god Baal.”
Late Bronze Age
Egyptian
Baal-Zaphon
“Baal of Ṣapānu, a storm-god title and cult name known from Egyptian and Levantine records.”
Iron Age
Biblical Hebrew
צָפוֹן (ṣāp̄ôn)
“North; also a poetic or mythic northern mountain associated with divine power.”
Hellenistic Period
Greek
Ζάφων (Zaphōn)
“A Greek rendering of the Semitic place-name Zaphon.”
Late Antiquity
Latin
Zaphon
“A Latin-transmitted form of the biblical and Near Eastern proper name.”
Modern English
English
Zaphon
“A biblical and ancient Near Eastern proper name for the sacred northern mountain.”
Explore more surprising origins