ABYSS (Gr. as, privative, ,6u6QOs, bottom)

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 82 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: A10-ADA

ABYSS (Gr. as, privative, ,6u6QOs, bottom) , a bottomless depth; hence any deep place. From the

late

LATE

popular abyssimus (superlative of Low Latin abyssus) through the French abisme (i.e. abime) is derived the poetic form abysm, pronounced as

late

LATE

as 1616 to rhyme with time. The adjective " abyssal " or " abysmal " has been used by zoologists to describe deep regions of the sea; hence abysmal zone, abysmal flora and fauna, abysmal accumulations, the deposit on the abysmal bed of the ocean. In heraldry, the abyss is the middle of an escutcheon. In the Greek version of the Old Testament the word represents (s) the

original

ORIGINAL

chaos

CHAOS

(Gen. i. 2), (2) the Hebrew

Idiom

IDIOM (Gr. t&%wµa, something peculiar and personal; lbws, one's own, personal)

(" a surging water-deep "), which is used also in apocalyptic and kabbalistic literature and in the New Testament for

hell

HELL (0. Eng. hel, a Teutonic word from a root meaning " to cover," cf. Ger. Holle, Dutch hel)

, the place of

punishment

PUNISHMENT (from Lat. punire, to punish, from poena, punishment, Gr. 7rocvil)

(cf. "Eurip. Phoen. for the " yawning chasm of Tartarus "); in the Revised (not the Authorized) version abyss is generally used for this

idea

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

. Primarily in the

Septuagint

SEPTUAGINT, THE (Gr. of 0', Lat. LXX.)

cosmography the word is applied (a) to the waters under the earth which originally covered it, and from which the springs and rivers are supplied, (b) to the waters of the firmament which were regarded as closely connected with those below. Derivatively, from the general

idea

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

of depth, it acquired the meaning of the place of the dead, though apparently never quite the same as Sheol. In

Revelation

REVELATION, BOOK OF

it is the prison of evil spirits whence- they may occasionally be let loose, and where' Satan is doomed to spend r000 years. Beneath the altar in the temple of Jerusalem there was believed to be a passage which led down to the abyss of the world, where the foundation-stone of the earth was laid. In rabbinical cosmography the abyss is a region of Gehenna situated below the ocean bed and divided into three or seven parts imposed one above the other. In the Kabbalah the abyss as the opening into the lower world is the abode of evil spirits, and corresponds to the opening of the abyss to the world above. In general the abyss is regarded vaguely as it place` of indefinite extent, the abode of mystery and sorrow.
See G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the Old Testament (Eng. trans.,

Oxford

, 1905).

End of Article: ABYSS (Gr. as, privative, ,6u6QOs, bottom)

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