Shekel from the fact that it was a trading port where things were sold by weight? What language is Ashkelon, anyway?
I really haven't seen much about the etymology - actually toponomy - of Ashkelon other than the source that I quoted, and a couple others that were basically identical.
I do know that the city is very old, and I don't know if its nature as a trading port dates back to the time it got its name.
I had a bit of a look in my Akkadian dictionary and the only thing of any interest that came up (excuse my lack of fonts) was shiqlu, meaning "marsh". Of course, all the usual "weight" and "weighing" words popped up as well, but they don't really add anything new to the picture, seeing as they're cognate with the Hebrew. "Marsh" is interesting though...
Of course, it may not have anything to do with Akkadian, so I suggest that reservedly. BDB mention that it pops up in Assyrian as Isqaluna and, seeing as Akk. 'shin' often becomes Assyrian 'sin', I thought that it was possible. But I don't know.
By the way, being a Phoenician city the name is quite possibly a Phoenician name (just to answer your question, Joe). That won't really help toponymically because our knowledge of Phoenician is restricted to a miniscule corpus of inscriptions (none of which were stratified, which makes dating them a nightmare). It's generally assumed to be a Canaanite language that predated Hebrew, but scholars differ on where the Canaanite branch came from - hence my reservation in suggesting an Akkadian origin.
Mind you, there is a Philistine inscription (the only one, actually) that appears to utilise a strictly Akkadian word, so if they can do then who knows...
Commenting by HaloScan
