Byblos appears as Kebny in Egyptian hieroglyphic records going back to the 4th-dynasty pharaoh Sneferu (BC) and as Gubla () in the Akkadian cuneiform Amarna letters to the 18th-dynasty pharaohs and IV. In the 1stmillenniumBC, its name appeared in Phoenician and Punic inscriptions as Gebal (, ); in the Hebrew Bible as Geval (); and in Syriac as (). The name seems to derive from (, "well") and (, "god"), the latter a word that could variously refer to any of the Canaanite gods or to their leader in particular. The name thus seems to have meant the "Well of the God" or "Source of the God".