JewishEncyclopedia.com - EDEN, GARDEN OF

JewishEncyclopedia.com - EDEN, GARDEN OF: "Biblical Data: Name given to the 'earthly paradise' occupied by Adam and Eve before their fall through sin. The word 'Eden,' perhaps an Assyrian loan-word, is of the same root as the Assyrian 'edinu,' synonymous with 'ṣeru' (= field, depression; compare the Arabic 'zaur,' which is the name still given to the country south of Babylon and extending to the Persian Gulf; the nomadic tribes inhabiting it were called by the Assyrians 'sabe edini') (see Delitzsch, 'Wo Lag das Paradies?'). Its connection with the Hebrew word is of later origin. Sprenger ('Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad,' ii. 507) explains it through the Arabic ''adn.' Views of Delitzsch. The writer of the Biblical story of Eden (Gen. ii.-iii.) is evidently describing some place which he conceives to be on the earth; hence the exact details: 'God planted a garden eastward, in Eden,' etc. Many attempts have been made to determine the precise geographical location"