I. Name

According to Gen. 2.6, the primordial world was watered by a ‘flood’ (ʾēd) that arose from the earth prior to the advent of rainfall. It is probable that Hebr ʾēd was borrowed from Akk. id, ‘Id’, which occurs in cuneiform sources (usually written díd) as a name for the river as a deity, especially in connection with the river ordeal, a juridical process by which an accused person was tried by being thrown into the river (CAD I/J. [1960] 8; AHW 364). Akkadian id was derived from the Sumerian name for the …