Tsaphon means the north — the direction corresponding to the left when facing east (the direction of sunrise). Appearing about 153 times, it derives from the verb tsaphan (to hide, treasure up), perhaps because the north was the hidden or dark direction (away from the sun). In Ugaritic mythology, Mount Tsaphon was the dwelling of Baal, which makes the use of this term in Psalm 48 politically charged.
The north (tsaphon) carries a complex symbolic range in Hebrew Scripture. Judgment comes "from the north" in the prophets — Jeremiah repeatedly warns of the "foe from the north" (Babylon: Jeremiah 1:14; 4:6). God's throne or dwelling is associated with the north/heights (Isaiah 14:13 — Lucifer's boast; Job 26:7 — God stretches the north over the void). Psalm 48:2 describes Zion as "the heights of Tsaphon" — deliberately appropriating Baal's mountain for Yahweh, declaring that the true God of the north is not Baal but the LORD.