Eden
ˈiːdən
noun
Origin
Sumerian
edin — steppe or plain
Overview
Meaning Now
- In the Bible, the place where God placed the first humans, Adam and Eve.
- A state or place of pristine, idyllic, or abundant pleasure and innocence.
Literal older meaning
delight, pleasure
Language path
Sumerian → Akkadian → Hebrew → English
Earliest form
עֵדֶן (ʿēden)
Earliest period
8th century BCE
Journey
The concept of Eden in Genesis 2-3 serves as an archetypal landscape of primordial perfection. Scholars often note the bridge between the Sumerian loanword for a flat landscape and the Hebrew philosophical development of the word to mean a locus of divine intimacy.
Evolution
- 3rd millennium BCE (Sumerian)
edin
“steppe, plain, open land”
Geographical term for an uncultivated area.
- 8th century BCE (Biblical Hebrew)
עֵדֶן
“delight, pleasure”
Reinterpreted in Hebrew via folk etymology as related to the root ʿ-d-n (to be soft, pleasant).
- Late Middle English
Eden
“Garden of Eden”
Loaned into English via Latin and Old French.
Connections
Word parts
Eden
root
paradise
Related across languages
Akkadian
edinu
plain, desert
Explore next
Related to Eden
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.