Zoar

See also: zoar

English

Alternative forms

• Zoara

Etymology

Mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 19:22, 23, and 30 as the place where Lot fled with his wife and two daughters to escape death, when Yahweh destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. From Hebrew צֹעַר (tso`ar, “insignificance, smallness”). Was present in Old English as Sægor.

The settlement in Labrador was founded by Moravian missionaries. Compare Hebron, Hopedale, Nain and Ramah.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈzəʊ.ɑː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈzoʊ.ɑɹ/
• Hyphenation: Zo‧ar

Proper noun

Zoar

1. (biblical) One of the Pentapolis, the five ancient cities in the Jordan valley.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 13:10:

     And Lot lifted vp his eyes, and beheld all the plaine of Iordane, that it was well watered euery where before the Lord destroyed Sodome and Gomorah, euen as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou commest vnto Zoar.

2. A ghost town in Nunatsiavut, Newfoundland and Labrador. [From 1865]
3. A number of modern places named after the Biblical city.

Derived terms

• zoar

Translations

ancient city

• French: Tsoar, Ségor
• Spanish: Zóar, Segor
• Vietnamese: Xô-a, Xoa

Anagrams

• Razo, Roza