Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/259



In the Bible a number of references to the tribe of Maʻôn have been preserved, as well as to the inhabitants of Me‘ûn, which name we can also easily read in the Hebrew text as Ma‘ôn. These references are apparently derived from detailed and accurate sources, because, although they contain allusions to places mentioned nowhere else in the Bible, they nevertheless are in entire agreement with the topography. I hold the view that both “Ma‘ôn” and “Me‘ûn” designate the inhabitants of the oasis of Ma‘ân and its environs. Whether the name Ma‘ôn arose from Maʻîn or not, I cannot decide, because both are purely Semitic and both are frequently met with in northwestern Arabia.