Eden

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English Ēden,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin Ēden of the Vulgate,^[4][5][6] taken through the Greek of the Septuagint^[4][5][3] from Biblical Hebrew עֵדֶן (ʿēḏen, “pleasure, delight”).^[7][1][8] Klein says the name of the region is usually explained as "the place of delight";^[8] Partridge connects this with the Hebrew phrase for "garden of delight", which the Vulgate renders Late Latin paradīsus voluptātis.^[9] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English suggest Akkadian edinu, from Sumerian eden (“plain, steppe”), later associated with the Hebrew word for delight,^[6][5] and Klein reports Cassuto's explanation from Ugaritic ʿdn as "a place that is well watered throughout".^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A delightful place or state, a paradise: before 1225, in the OED's reading of a line of St Juliana.^[7][10][11] The Middle English Dictionary files the edene of that line under a native noun meaning a threshing floor, comparing Old English ōden, and its first records of the biblical name are from Trevisa (before 1398) and the Wycliffite Bible.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline sees the delightful place as a figurative use of the place described in Genesis.^[10] Trevisa explains Paradys as what is called eden in Hebrew.^[2] Hoad dates that biblical sense to the 14th century and "a delightful abode, paradise" to the 16th,^[4] whereas the OED and Merriam-Webster Unabridged put the figurative sense first because of the line in St Juliana.^[7][11] Shakespeare's "This other Eden, demi-paradise" in Richard II is the Shorter Oxford's example of the name applied to an earthly place.^[6] The word then extended from place to feeling, a state of great happiness or bliss.^[12][3][7]

Timeline

• before 1225 – a delightful place, a paradise, if the line in St Juliana belongs here.^[7]
• 1382 – the home of Adam and Eve, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible (Genesis 4:16).^[7][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The garden where Adam and Eve first lived, according to Genesis; also called the Garden of Eden.^[11][12][3]
2. Any delightful place; a paradise: The valley seemed an Eden to the weary hikers.^[12][3][11]
3. A state of great happiness or bliss.^[12][3][7]

Word family

• Edenic

Related words

• Edna

Usage notes

The OED separately records Eden, in full Eden hat, from 1940: a usually black Homburg hat of the kind often worn by Sir Anthony Eden, named after him.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins