Yam
/jɑːm/noun
In ancient Northwest Semitic religion, Yam was the sea deity and a personification of the chaotic sea.
Did you know?In the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Yam demands authority over the gods and represents the sea as a dangerous cosmic power rather than merely a body of water.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*yamm-
“Sea or large body of water”
Late 2nd Millennium BCE
Ugaritic
ym
“The sea; also the divine sea power opposed by Baal”
14th–13th Century BCE
Ugaritic
Yam
“A deity embodying the threatening, chaotic sea”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
yām
“Sea, western sea, or large body of water”
Classical and Modern Arabic
Arabic
yamm
“Sea or ocean, especially in elevated or literary usage”
Modern English
English
Yam
“The ancient Semitic sea deity, usually discussed in translations and studies of Ugaritic mythology”
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