עולם

Forms

עוֹלָם (ʿôlām) noun, masculine, plural עוֹלָמִים^[1][4] Usually plene, about twenty times defective עֹלָם; with suffix עֹלָמוֹ (Ecclesiastes 12:5), plural עוֹלָמִים, construct עוֹלְמֵי.^[5][2]

Etymology

The origin of the word is uncertain.^[2] It is common to the Northwest Semitic languages: Ugaritic ʿlm (“eternity”),^(DULAT 2015|s.v. ʕlm (I)) Phoenician ʿlm, the Moabite of the Mesha inscription, Aramaic from its oldest inscriptions to the Bible (עָלְמָא (ʿāləmā)) and Syriac.^[2][4] Arabic عَالَم (ʿālam, “world”) and the Ge'ez word for “eternity, world” are thought to be borrowed from Aramaic.^[6][7]

Two explanations are offered.^[6] Gesenius took it from the root of עָלַם (ʿālam, “to be hidden”), the “hidden, unknown time”, and Klein reports the same view;^[7][6] others connect it with Akkadian ullânu (“remote time”), so that ⟨-ām⟩ would be a suffix.^[6][7] HALOT finds it closest in meaning to Akkadian dāru (“duration, eternity”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ten of the 438 occurrences are in the archaic poems.^[1][8] The Song of the Sea ends YHWH yimlōḵ ləʿōlām wāʿeḏ, “the LORD shall reign for ever and ever” (Exodus 15:18); the Blessing of Jacob speaks of giḇʿōṯ ʿôlām, “the everlasting hills” (Genesis 49:26), and the Song of Moses of yəmôṯ ʿôlām, “the days of old” (Deuteronomy 32:7).^[1][2][9] The word thus looks both forward and back from its first uses.^[2]

Semantic evolution

HALOT's basic sense is a long time, a duration that has no end in view, but not eternity in the philosophical sense: ʿeḇeḏ ʿôlām is a slave for life (Deuteronomy 15:17), as Ugaritic says ʿbd ʿlm.^[2] With prepositions it means “for ever” (ləʿôlām, ʿaḏ-ʿôlām), and in the priestly laws it marks a covenant or statute as perpetual (ḥuqqaṯ ʿôlām).^[2][5] Turned to the past it is the remote past, mēʿôlām “from of old”, a phrase also found in the Mesha inscription.^[2] Of God it gives ʾēl ʿôlām “the everlasting God” (Genesis 21:33), and Ecclesiastes calls the grave bêṯ ʿôlāmô, “his eternal home” (12:5).^[2]

The Septuagint renders it by Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn) and αἰώνιος (aiṓnios).^[1] Klein notes that the sense “world” is absent from the Bible, except perhaps in Ecclesiastes 3:11.^[6] It is the common sense of Rabbinic Hebrew, where ʿôlām hazzê is this world and ʿôlām habbāʾ the world to come.^[10] Modern Hebrew עולם (olám) means “world” and “eternity”.^[6][4]

Timeline

• Archaic Hebrew poetry – ləʿōlām wāʿeḏ “for ever and ever” (Exodus 15:18); giḇʿōṯ ʿôlām (Genesis 49:26).^[8][1]
• Classical Biblical Hebrew – 99 occurrences in Genesis to Kings, among them the priestly ḥuqqaṯ ʿôlām “perpetual statute”.^[1][2]
• Late Biblical Hebrew – bêṯ ʿôlāmô “his eternal home” (Ecclesiastes 12:5).^[2]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it as Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn).^[11][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 915 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[12][13]
• Rabbinic Hebrew – ʿôlām hazzê and ʿôlām habbāʾ, this world and the world to come.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. a long time, duration;^[4] ʿeḇeḏ ʿôlām a slave for life.^[2][5]
2. the future without end: ləʿôlām, ʿaḏ-ʿôlām forever; as an attribute, perpetual.^[2][5]
3. the remote past, antiquity: yəmôṯ ʿôlām days of old, mēʿôlām from of old.^[2][5]
4. of God: ʾēl ʿôlām the everlasting God.^[2]
5. (late) bêṯ ʿôlām the grave.^[2]

Descendants

• Yiddish עולם (oylem)^[4]
• Modern Hebrew עולם (olám)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. עוֹלָם
3. ^ Højgaard, Christian Canu; Naaijer, Martijn; Schorch, Stefan (2023), Text-Fabric Dataset of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7734632
4. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e Brown, Francis; Driver, S. R.; Briggs, Charles A. (1906), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. עוֹלָם²
6. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. עוֹלָם
7. ^ a b c Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. עוֹלָם
8. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 69
9. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 69–70
10. ^ a b Jastrow, Marcus (1886–1903), A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, London: Luzac; New York: Putnam, p. s.v. עוֹלָם
11. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
12. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
13. ^ Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss