<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 . Gomorrah (Hebrew: עֲמֹרָה ‎ ‎' Ămōrāh) could be based on the root gh mr, 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> <P> In 1976 Giovanni Pettinato claimed that a cuneiform tablet that had been found in the newly discovered library at Ebla contained the names of all five of the cities of the plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela), listed in the same order as in Genesis . The names si - da - mu (TM. 76. G. 524) and ì - ma - ar (TM. 75. G. 1570 and TM. 75. G. 2233) were identified as representing Sodom and Gomorrah, which gained some acceptance at the time . However, Alfonso Archi states that, judging from the surrounding city names in the cuneiform list, si - da - mu lies in northern Syria and not near the Dead Sea, and ì - ma - ar is a variant of ì - mar, known to represent Emar, an ancient city located near Ebla . Today, the scholarly consensus is that "Ebla has no bearing on...Sodom and Gomorra ." </P>

What happened in the days of sodom and gomorrah