xeley
צלע
'xeley' is generally accepted to mean “side”, and is often used to refer to the sides of a building. Oddly though, in Genesis 2:22, and only in this one instance, the word is traditionally translated as “rib”. This mistranslation has become baked into doctrine by way of the story of “the creation of Eve”. The Power of Wisdom Youtube channel has created a great video about this.
However, it is highly likely that both of these interpretations are wrong. The root word of 'xeley' is xel. Xel is unanimously understood to mean “shadow”.
In the context of a building, the sides of a building are very often in shadow. Thus it requires no great stretch of the imagination to see that the word shadow became used to refer to the “shadows of the building”, effectively meaning the side walls, or possibly the entire interior1).
Applying the concept of shadows to Genesis 2:22 implies a rather intriguing twist on the familiar story, but one which can only be appreciated in the context of a full retranslation of the chapter (which we will do, in time), especially when one considers that the famous phrase “In Our Image” used in Genesis 1 also utilizes the same root word.
LexID 6763