yeden
עדנ
Possibly built on the root words yed meaning “and” (or possibly “witness”) and den, meaning “rule”, 'yeden' is the name of a “garden” created by the alehim in Genesis chapter 2. This is the location for the narrative of the creation of man. See adem.
Although most people are familiar with the translation of 'yeden' to “Eden”, the original spelling is clear. In fact, the word Eden is not possible to spell in ancient Hebrew, since the English letter E appears in premasoretic Hebrew only as a default vowel sound where no other vowels are represented typographically.
Although the O'Briens postulated that Eden means “the highlands”, the exact opposite may be true, for this word may be cognate with the Dutch word 'beneden', meaning “bottom”, “down”, or “downstairs”. A more detailed examination of the location of yeden can be found in our commentary of Genesis chapter 2
LexID 5731