by cameo-d 9 Replies latest watchtower bible
I found a pre NWT bible in the thrift store. In reading this, I noticed that in Genesis, the word eden is preceeded by an apostrophe. I think words that are shortened by ommitting letters or prefixes are written using an apostrophe to denote the missing letters.
So, could 'eden actually be another spelling of 'eddon and could it be a shortened form of armag'edon?
I seem to remember that the etymology of the word Eddon means "to cause to know".
Any ideas as to why it would be spelled 'eden?
Shameless wikipedia cut and paste:
Eden:
The origin of the term "Eden", which in Hebrew means "delight", may lie with the Akkadian word edinu, which itself derives from the Sumerian term EDIN . The Sumerian term means steppe, plain, desert or wilderness, so the connection between the words may be coincidental. This word is known to have been used by the Sumerians to refer to the arid lands west of the Euphrates. Alan Millard has put forward a case for the name deriving from the Semitic stem dn, meaning "abundant, lush" [ 3 ] .
Armageddon:
Armageddon (Greek ??µa?ed??; [armagedôn] also spelled Har-Magedon, or, in some modern English translations; the Mount of Megiddo), is the site of the final battle (or campaign) between God and Satan (whose name means 'adversary'), also known as the Devil. Satan will operate through the person known as the "Beast" or the Antichrist, written about in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. More generally, it can also refer to an apocalyptic catastrophe.
The word Armageddon in Scripture is known only from a single verse in the Greek New Testament, [ 1 ] where it is said to be Hebrew, and is thought to represent the Hebrew words Har Megido (?? ?????), meaning "Mountain of Megiddo".
So, could 'eden actually be another spelling of 'eddon and could it be a shortened form of armag'edon?
Superficially, it would not seem that they are related.
BTS
Thanks for your input, Burn.
Curious, but I also found (etymology related) that Eden is a "walled garden". This would represent an enclosure; a limited landscape. That seems to conflict with the Summerian defination of Edin as a "desert or wilderness".
I forget the name of this Bible. It was a Watchtower production prior to NWT.
Any reason why the word eden is preceeded with an apostrophe?
'eden ???
Any reason why the word eden is preceeded with an apostrophe?
According to:
http://www.jewfaq.org/glossary.htm
' a vowel that is not quite pronounced; a very short u or i
BTS
There are two "guttural" letters in the Hebrew (and many other Semitic) alphabet(s) which have no equivalents in the Latin (i.e. our) alphabet: one is 'aleph and the other is `ayn, they are usually transliterated as ' and ` respectively. To overlook them or mix them up is very easy in English transliteration but almost impossible in ancient Hebrew writing or speech.
Eden is a "walled garden".
I think you are mixing up with the etymology of the word "paradise" which comes from old Persian through Hebrew and Greek.
Before the NWT, the WTS produced and recommended the use of the American Standard Version (ASV) . Before that, I'm pretty sure they also printed the King James Version.
They also printed the Wilson's Emphatic Diaglott.
Farkel
"Curious, but I also found (etymology related) that Eden is a 'walled garden' ".
You're thinking of Hebrew pardes, from Avestan pairidaeza. Avestan was an Indo-European language, distantly related to English, and Hebrew borrowed it as a loanword. It has nothing to do with the word "Eden," although in the Greek LXX the original gn-`dn "garden of Eden" was rendered as "paradise of delight" (utilizing the same Avestan word that was loaned into Greek just as it was loaned into Hebrew). It is also interesting to see how the Avestan word is related to English. Pairi- is the same as the Greek prefix para- meaning "alongside" or "beside" (which was borrowed into English from Greek, e.g. parallel, paranormal, paragraph, etc.). The second part -daeza "wall" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *dheigh, meaning "to shape, form, build". The English word "dough" comes from this root through Germanic. The Persian word probably acquired the meaning "wall" since the bricks used to form a wall were shaped from clay. The orchard or garden that the term referred to was enclosed by the wall.
I am happy to know that you scholars are still around and thank you for the information.
“The Biblical word gan (as in Gan Eden) means `walled garden,’ ” Rohl continues, "and the valley is indeed walled in by towering mountains." The highest of these is Mt. Sahand, a snow-capped extinct volcano that Rohl identifies as the Prophet Ezekiel’s Mountain of God, where the Lord resides among `red-hot coals’ (Ezekiel 28:11-19). Cascading down the once-fiery mountain, precisely echoing Ezekiel, is a small river, the Adji Chay (the name of which also translates in local dialect as ‘walled garden’). The locals still hold the mountain sacred, Rohl says, and attribute magical powers to the river’s water.
The Jerusalem Report (February 1, 1999) broke the story in the article – “Paradise Found.”
Since Paradise is often used as a synonym for "Garden of Eden" the etymology often refers back to that word. So you all are right.
But this brings up another question. If these humans were placed in a walled garden then they were not free to roam the earth or to discover anything outside of their enclosure. Were they pampered prisoners? Were they captives for experimentations?
dont tell me: the Annunaki were aliens experimenting with our ancestors, right? is this what youre leading up to?
dont tell me: the Annunaki were aliens experimenting with our ancestors, right? is this what youre leading up to?
No. I am thinking that Eden was a "walled garden"...an enclosure set apart. And that Adam and Eve were pampered prisoners.
I am also thinking that the "tree of knowledge" caused them to step outside of their confinement. Perhaps they saw other people who were clothed. How else would they have gotton the idea to make clothes out of plant material?
I see a similarity in Genesis and in Revelation where this "god" confines people to the realm of his "kingdom" to exert complete control over them again. Almost like a cyclic process.
There is no freedom when you are given ultimatums.
Revelation does not seem to be compatible with the lifestyle that Jesus described. Revelation is about destruction and control.
