Re[e]d Sea
the original name of the Red Sea is Reed Sea ים סוף [yam suph].
i read somewhere [or heard] that the nowadays widely known name [in many languages] arose from the misspelling of the name [two e's -> one e]. but it seemed funny that it happened in English - English was not always the world language.
according to Wikipedia, the redness of the sea is visible in many ancient names as well, so maybe there were no misspelling at all?
but:
"the Septuagint translation of the book of Exodus from Hebrew into Koine, in which Hebrew Yam suph (ים סוף), meaning Reed Sea, is translated as Erythra Thalassa (Red Sea)."
i don't understand it - is it so that in Greek the word for 'reed' was similar to the word for 'red'?
thanks for any comments.
[x-posted to my lj]
i read somewhere [or heard] that the nowadays widely known name [in many languages] arose from the misspelling of the name [two e's -> one e]. but it seemed funny that it happened in English - English was not always the world language.
according to Wikipedia, the redness of the sea is visible in many ancient names as well, so maybe there were no misspelling at all?
but:
"the Septuagint translation of the book of Exodus from Hebrew into Koine, in which Hebrew Yam suph (ים סוף), meaning Reed Sea, is translated as Erythra Thalassa (Red Sea)."
i don't understand it - is it so that in Greek the word for 'reed' was similar to the word for 'red'?
thanks for any comments.
[x-posted to my lj]