WHERE DID THE WELSH CYMRY COME FROM? Just as HOSEA married a wife named “GOMER” (Hos.1:3), so also it was during the reign of King HOSHEA that Israel first went into captivity as GHOMRI. Micah 6:15 condemns the northern Israelites for keeping the “statutes of OMRI.” OMRI in Hebrew begins with the consonant “Agin,” formerly called “Gayin” which was pronounced with a gutteral “H,” that is “Gh” or “Kh.” The Israelites would have pronounced OMRI as “GHOMRI” which became “KHUMRI” in Assyrian. “GIMIRI” was the Babylonian way of pronouncing CIMMERIANS or Scythians (Tomb of Darius; Behistun Rock in Persia).
OMRI was evidently a strong king. The Assyrians called Israel after his name, BIT OMRI (Khumri)” (1968 edition, p.44 Langer’s Encyc. of World History; Moabite Stone). He built Samaria the capital of the Ten Tribes (1 Ki. 16:25). Some scholars have suggested that KIMMERIM refers to “idolatrous” (KEMARIM) Israelites. On Shalmaneser’s Black Obelisk, Jehu , king of Israel, is called “son of OMRI” (880 B.C.)