The Hebrew Term \u27ed In Gen 2,6 and its Connection in Ancient Near Eastern Literature

The Hebrew masculine noun \u27ed remains a crux interpretum despite numerous efforts to explain it for over a century. This has led to variegated translations of the English Bible. Various authors have ascribed disputed etymological derivations including: (1) a direct (Zimmern, Castellino) or indirect Sumerian connection with id (Dhorme, Sachsse; Albright, Sæbo) or with e4-dé (Tsumura); (2) Akkadian edû (Dillman, Speiser, Gunkel, Procksch); (3) Eblaite í-dit (Dahood); and (4) a direct (Yahuda) or indirect Egyptian connection with iinverted c signd.t (Görg). Other connections have been made with various ancient Near Eastern literatures (Egyptian, Sumerian, Ugaritic). These proposals are evaluated on the basis of etymological, phonetic, philological, syntactical, grammatical, contextual, and conceptual considerations with the conclusion that the Hebrew term \u27ed is to be understood as »mist/dew« which arose from below, in a way that was distinct from normal rainfall from above, from river inundation, canal irrigation and other current proposals. © Walter de Gruyter 2000