<P> The etymology of both names is uncertain . The exact original meanings of the names are also uncertain . Some believe, the name Sodom (Hebrew: סְדֹם ‎ Səḏōm) could be a word from an early Semitic language ultimately related to the Arabic sadama, meaning "fasten", "fortify", "strengthen", but that is unlikely as the Gesenius' Hebrew - Chaldee Lexicon defines the Hebrew word Sodom (Cēdom) as burning . </P> <P> Gomorrah (Hebrew: עֲמֹרָה ‎' Ămōrāh) is a special case for a number of reasons . The Hebrew term transliterated as' amōra was not always pronounced as such . In ancient times, all Semitic languages, including Hebrew, included a letter known as ghayn which made the sound of the voiced velar fricative (/ ɣ /, or "gh"). At some point, Hebrew merged ghayn with the ayin (ע); thus words originally pronounced with ghayn no longer preserved the "gh" sound and instead adopted ayin's pronunciation, the voiced pharyngeal fricative (/ ʕ /), which is silent in Modern Hebrew . The Hebrew term for Gomorrah is one of these words . Thus, the true pronunciation of the term is ghamōrah, as opposed to the modern' amōrah . Based on the initial ghayn, it is possible that the Hebrew term could be based on the root gh - m-r, which means "be deep", "copious (water)," but this is also in dispute as it is classically known as עֲמֹרָה ʻĂmôrâh, am - o - raw'; from H6014; a (ruined) heap; Amorah, a place in Palestine:--Gomorrah . </P> <P> There are other stories and historical names which bear a resemblance to the Biblical stories of Sodom and Gomorrah . Some possible natural explanations for the events described have been proposed, but no widely accepted or strongly verified sites for the cities have been found . Of the five "cities of the plain", only Bela, modern - day Zoara, is securely identified, and it remained a settlement long after the biblical period . </P> <P> The ancient Greek historiographer Strabo states that locals living near Moasada (as opposed to Masada) say that "there were once thirteen inhabited cities in that region of which Sodom was the metropolis". Strabo identifies a limestone and salt hill at the south western tip of the Dead Sea, and Kharbet Usdum (Hebrew: הר סדום, Har Sedom or Arabic: جبل السدوم, Jabal (u)' ssudūm) ruins nearby as the site of biblical Sodom . Archibald Sayce translated an Akkadian poem describing cities that were destroyed in a rain of fire, written from the view of a person who escaped the destruction; the names of the cities are not given . However, Sayce later mentions that the story more closely resembles the doom of Sennacherib's host . </P>

Who were the angels that destroyed sodom and gomorrah