I should like to hazard a guess that there is a strong connection with ‘Levant’ and other similar eg Lebanon, Libya Levi etc from the root - ‘levan’ [Hebrew] -meaning “white” and referring to Sodium Chloride - commonsalt The ancient world [pre industrial revolution] was ruled by those regimes that controlled the mining sources of salt The exclusive salt mines that supplied these regimes were sited in the outback of the Levant seashores, from the Persian salt desert deposits and Mesopotamia to the Dead Sea and the Turkish Tatta [Tuz Gölü] , the North African coastal deposits and Cardona in Spain Very occasionally when a low sea level allowed saltmaking on exposed seashore flats and marshes these regimes became more ‘libertine’ as their control of the salt supplies became less certain. Since salt was the money of the ancient world [your ‘salary’ was your worth in salt] those regimes were able to mint their own coins as did the Lydians [considered to have produced the first coins] near their salt sources and reflect the value [by weight] and its availability of that life supporting essential commodity. There was little intrinsic value to these metal coins which were made of any durable malleable material except for the “hall” mark of the authority who issued them in lieu of tax I would suggest that the Levant mine in Cornwall may have supplied the raw material mostly for the local mint particularly whenever the British Isles were a leading source of salt supply.
I am not an etymologist [I am a chem. eng] however the roots of words are clearly also ‘hear-say’ and levi and levy are surely connected ie:

Levy (Law)
(a) To gather or exact; as, to levy money.
(b) To erect, build, or set up; to make or construct;
to raise or cast up; as, to levy a mill, dike, ditch,
as in dykes for salt pans [lev’ee?]
etc. [Obs.] --Cowell. --Blackstone.
(c) To take or seize on execution; to collect by execution
(d) levy en masse
n: the act of drafting into military service [syn: levy]
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

It seems to me that the common denominator is almost always [white] salt whether it be value, weight, protection power, etc etc. I should very grateful if you were to summarise your version of this etymology.
commonsalt[at]hotmail.com

SALT ARCHIVE Investigating the social influence of Salt NaCl on civilisations MRBLOCH ARCHIVE

The name Levant for a copper mine in Cornwall occurred in 1790-95, during which time small sales of high-grade copper ore were made. I have not been able to find any link between the Cornish language and the word Levant, though there are a number of definitions in the Oxford dictionary. It seems to mean the eastern Mediterranean countries, including the islands and adjoining countries, and specifically the eastern seaboard of the Aegean sea.
If the Phoenicians ever traded in Cornwall, and they were not heard of in Cornwall until the 1690s, they certainly did not leave any words behind; their language may have been akin to Aramaic. In a later working, from about 1819-20, the Levant mine may have included Zawbrinney or Boscregan mine, which adjoined the Levant mine to the south-west.
My own view is that the money to reopen Levant in 1819-20 came from Plymouth. When the mine was about seven years old a St. Just man bought some shares from a man in Plymouth, and this suggested to me that was the place where the money was raised. A gazetteer of Plymouth shows that there was a Levant Court and Levant Buildings there, and this may have been the source of the name.
Recent researches have shown that we have to re-think the whole of the accepted theories about the antiquity of Cornish tin workings, since trace elements found in Turkish tin from several thousand years BC are not present in Cornish tin ingots which have survived from early times. The so-called Mediterranean bronzes were made with Turkish tin, from Anatolia, and Turkish copper. Page 29 of the Cornish miner, by A.K. Hamilton Jenkin, published in 1927 and since reprinted several times, notes that ‘It is only fair, however, to say that as the learned have had their theories, so the simple have evolved romances to fill in the gaps where history itself in wanting. Among the latter, the coming of the Phoenicians is still in full possession at this very time…’

Justin Brooke, bard “Whythrer Stenoryon” [researcher of tinner] of the Gorsedd of Cornwall

As regards the mines name it is unclear as to why it was called Levant. The most likely reason is a connection with what you have been researching.
The two main books on Levant mine are Levant - The mine under the sea by Cyril Noall and Levant - A champion Cornish mine by John Corin. Noall’s book mentions nothing as regards the name, but in Corin's he states “The origin of the name Levant is lost; in an earlier century Levant, referring to the eastern Mediterranean, was synonymous with riches, and by 1567, in the reign of the first Elizabeth, there was a Levant company trading there.”
It was quite common to give a new mine a name after a rich mine or mining area, presumable to make it seem more attractive to investors. On the neighbouring Geevor mine is a working called Wheal Mexico (possibly given that name because Mexico was very rich in silver and copper.
Today it would be like me opening the Pendeen Hilton Hotel, the name gives the impression that it must be a place of luxury and high quality so people will want to stop there, but in fact all it is is a two bedroom cottage!!
Levant was an amalgamation of several older smaller mines which included Wheal Shop, Wheal Unity, Boscregan, Zawn Brinney. Specimens from Boscregan Lode (mineral vein) were sent to Oxford in 1670 or 1680. Levant mine first appears Martyn’s map dated 1748, but records really do not start until 1820 when captain Richard Boyns formed a new company.
I hope the information is of some use.
I would be interested to know when the area of the eastern Mediterranean was at its height of importance as regards trade and wealth, as this may give a clue as to when possibly Levant mine was first formed.

Peter Savage, administrator of the Levant mine web site.

The word ‘Levantine’ used for persons seems to be originally derived from the Levant Co., to which most early British traders were associated with. The term gradually got to be used to refer to all European expatriates living in the Ottoman Empire, including those who had arrived well before the British, such as the Genoese. According to the A. Brittanica, the word Levant is derived from the French ‘lever’ to rise, assigning to the eastern direction of the rising sun, thus the Eastern lands of the Middle Ages, corresponding with the Eastern Mediterranean shoreline.

Common use of the term is associated with Venetian and other trading ventures and the establishment of commerce with cities such as Tyre and Sidon as a result of the crusades. It was applied to the coastlands of Asia Minor and Syria, sometimes extending from Greece and Egypt. It was also used for Anatolia and as a synonym for the Middle or Near East.

However I suspect the original word has an older non-European etymology as the old Turkish word for seaman / galley rower is ‘Levent’ which possibly meant persons of the Mediterranean littoral, from where the crew were conscripted. Another possibility is the Semitic word for salt ‘levi’, a common trading commodity, which might take the origin of the word to an even older time. However it is clear the word was in use earlier than it is commonly thought as the Istanbul Levantine writer Willy Sperco (Anciennes familles Italiennes de Turquie), takes it back to the 14th century when the Italian city states were already well integrated into the communities of the Aegean and Istanbul etc. and while retaining their Catholic creed, used Greek with Latin characters.

The word Levantine is still used today and marks the community separately from other expatriate communities around the world, through their influence and resilience. Despite their relatively small numbers, this was a unique foreign yet indigenous community that was for a time even able to effect national laws aiding their ability to conduct business and flourish.

There is no precise definition of who constitutes a Levantine, and this study is partly aimed at resolving this confusion. However it has to be born in mind that the nature of concentrating on the past of the church in Buca (my interest) means the English speaking Levantine community get a disproportionate share of the attention, which their numbers would not warrant. Levantines are essentially Westerners who are indexed to long term or permanent settlement in Turkey or its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire. The time range concentrated on, roughly coincides with the period of function of the Buca church (1820-1920) with its connected Anglo dominated community. However the testimonies by their very nature take the story to the present time. The various cemetery databases and files summarising findings in various libraries, are intended as support data.

Craig Encer, web site administrator