Deciphering Toponymy: Names on the Map of Israel

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This worksheet is for 10th-grade Land of Israel Studies students. Complete each item using historical-linguistic principles and map comparison skills.

Identify the ancient Roman name given in 72 CE that transformed linguistically into the modern Arabic name Nablus.
Explain why the biblical site of Beit El was pronounced 'Beitin' by local Arabic speakers over centuries.
State the year the Israeli Governmental Names Committee was established, and state its primary historical objective.
Connect each site to its alternate classical or historical name: (a) Lod, (b) Beit Guvrin, (c) Acre (Akko). Choices: Ptolemais, Lydda/Diospolis, Eleutheropolis.
Examine this excerpt from an early 20th-century geographer: 'The fellahin (farmers) often preserve the ancient names of biblical towns far more faithfully than modern administrative bodies, even when they do not know the historical origin.' Explain how an Arabic village name can serve as primary evidence for locating a biblical site.
Compare how Israeli and Palestinian communities view the naming of places in the region, explaining the core claim of each position.

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Deciphering Toponymy: Names on the Map of Israel

Answer key

Identify the ancient Roman name given in 72 CE that transformed linguistically into the modern Arabic name Nablus.
Neapolis (meaning 'new city' in Greek).
Explain why the biblical site of Beit El was pronounced 'Beitin' by local Arabic speakers over centuries.
Arabic speakers preserved the Semitic root but shifted the final letter 'l' to an 'n', a common phonetic shift between Northwest Semitic and Arabic dialects.
State the year the Israeli Governmental Names Committee was established, and state its primary historical objective.
Established in 1949 (formalized under the Prime Minister's Office in 1951), its objective was to assign official Hebrew names based on biblical, Talmudic, and historical sources across the landscape.
Connect each site to its alternate classical or historical name: (a) Lod, (b) Beit Guvrin, (c) Acre (Akko). Choices: Ptolemais, Lydda/Diospolis, Eleutheropolis.
(a) Lod: Lydda/Diospolis; (b) Beit Guvrin: Eleutheropolis; (c) Acre (Akko): Ptolemais.
Examine this excerpt from an early 20th-century geographer: 'The fellahin (farmers) often preserve the ancient names of biblical towns far more faithfully than modern administrative bodies, even when they do not know the historical origin.' Explain how an Arabic village name can serve as primary evidence for locating a biblical site.
Because peasant populations rarely relocate en masse, oral tradition preserves geographic names across generations. Even when political regimes change, local inhabitants pass down phonetic approximations of the original Hebrew or Canaanite name, allowing historical geographers to locate lost ancient sites.
Compare how Israeli and Palestinian communities view the naming of places in the region, explaining the core claim of each position.
The Israeli Jewish community emphasizes the restoration of biblical and Talmudic names as re-establishing ancient sovereign and spiritual ties to the land. The Palestinian community emphasizes Arabic names as historical evidence of centuries of continuous presence, culture, and cultivation on that land.