Shin-Lamedh-Memis the triconsonantal root of many Semitic words, and many of those words are used as names. The root meaning translates to “whole, safe, intact, unharmed, to go free, without blemish”. Its earliest known form is in the name of Shalim, the ancient god of dusk of Ugarit. Derived from this are meanings of “to be safe, secure, at peace”, hence “well-being, health” and passively “to be secured, pacified, submitted”.

Arabicsalām(سَلاَم), Maltesesliem, Hebrew Shalom (שָׁלוֹם),Ge’ezsälam(ሰላም), Syriacšlama(pronounced Shlama, or Shlomo in the Western Syriac dialect) (ܫܠܡܐ) are cognate Semitic terms for ‘peace’, deriving from a Proto-Semitic **šalām-*.

Given names derived from the same root include Solomon (Süleyman), Absalom, Selim, Salem, Salim, Salma, Salmah, Salman, Selimah, Shelimah, Salome, etc.

Arabic, Maltese, Hebrew andAramaichave cognate expressions meaning ‘peace be upon you’ used as a greeting:

In the Amarna letters. A small number of the 382-letter corpus of the letters discussed the exchange of“peace gifts”, namely greeting-gifts (Shulmani) between the Pharaoh and the other ruler involving the letter. The examples are Zita (Hittite prince), and Tushratta of Mitanni. Also, Kadashman-Enlil of Babylon, (Karduniaš of the letters).

Šalām, (shalamu) is also used in letter introductions, stating the authors health: an example letter EA19, from Tushratta to Pharaoh states:

InAkkadian:^[2]

The Arabic wordsalāmis used in a variety of expressions and contexts in Arabic and Islamic speech and writing. “Al-Salām” is one of the 99 names of God in Islam, and also a male given name in conjunction withʻabd. ʻAbd al-Salām translates to ‘Slave of Allah the All-Peaceable’.

In Maltese:

The word إسلامIslāmis a verbal noun derived froms-l-m, meaning “submission” (i.e. entrusting one’s wholeness to a higher force), which may be interpreted as humility. “One who submits” is signified by the participle مسلم,Muslim(fem. مسلمة,muslimah).^[3]

The word is given a number of meanings in the Qur’an. In some verses (āyāt), the quality of Islam as an internal conviction is stressed: “Whomsoever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to Islam.”^[4]Other verses connectislāmanddīn(usually translated as “religion”): “Today, I have perfected your religion (dīn) for you; I have completed My blessing upon you; I have approved Islam for your religion.”^[5]Still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith.^[6]

TheKoine GreekNew Testamenttext useseirēnē(εἰρήνη) for ‘peace’,^[7]which perhaps represents Jesus sayingšlama; this Greek form became the northern feminine name Irene. In the Epistles, it often occurs alongside the usual Greek greetingchairein(χαίρειν) in the phrase ‘grace and peace’. However, comparison of the GreekSeptuagintand Hebrew Masoretic Old Testament texts shows some instances whereshalomwas translated instead assoteria(σωτηρία, meaning ‘salvation’).

InHebrew:

InAramaic: