Yam
/ˈjɑːm/noun
Yam is the Ugaritic sea deity and a personification of the primordial, threatening waters.
Did you know?In the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Yam is portrayed as a rival claimant to divine kingship, making the struggle against him a mythic battle to impose order on chaotic waters.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*yām-
“Sea or large body of water”
Late Bronze Age
Ugaritic
ym
“The sea, and the divine personification of its dangerous power”
13th Century BCE
Ugaritic
Yam
“A deity who challenges Baal for kingship among the gods”
1st Millennium BCE
Hebrew
yām
“Sea; a common Semitic word also used in biblical Hebrew”
1st Millennium BCE
Akkadian
t should be read cautiously alongside Tiamat
“Related ancient Near Eastern traditions preserve comparable personifications of primordial waters”
Modern English
English
Yam
“The name commonly used in English-language scholarship for the Ugaritic sea god”