I. Name

The Hebrew word ʾădāmâ, ‘(fertile) soil, earth’, occurs over 220 times in the Bible. The term resembles the name of a goddess called Adamma, Admu, or Adammateri, attested in cuneiform texts as early as the third millennium bce. Assuming that the etymology of Adamma is Semitic, the name is most plausibly explained as ‘soil’ or ‘earth’. This meaning makes good sense since the goddess in question is traditionally regarded as the consort of Rasap (Resheph) the god of the underworld. In the Hebrew Bible, ʾăd…