(Deus Omnipotens in Latin, Arabic: إله الشديد, romanized: ʾIlāh Ash-Shadīd) El means "God" in the Ugaritic and the Canaanite languages.
The plural (Shaddayim -- שדיים) is the typical Modern Hebrew word for human breasts in dual grammatical number.
[10] The first occurrence of the name comes in Genesis 17:1, "When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am El Shaddai; walk before me, and be blameless,'[11] Similarly, in Genesis 35:11 God says to Jacob, "I am El Shaddai: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins."
In the fragmentary inscriptions at Deir Alla, shaddayin[12] appear (Hebrew: שדין; the vowels are uncertain, as is the gemination of the "d"), perhaps lesser figurations of Shaddai.
[13] These have been tentatively identified with the šēdim "demons" (Hebrew: שדים) of Deuteronomy 32:17 (parashah Haazinu) and Psalm 106: 37–38,[14] who are Canaanite deities.
In other places (such as Job 5:17) it appears as "Almighty" ("παντοκράτωρ"), and this word features in other translations as well, such as the 1611 King James Version.
[17]: 750 Another theory is that Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic root that appears in the Akkadian language shadû ("mountain") and shaddāʾû or shaddûʾa "mountain-dweller", one of the names of Amurru.
According to this theory, God is seen as inhabiting a holy mountain, a concept not unknown in ancient West Asian religion, and also evident in the Syriac Christianity writings of Ephrem the Syrian, who places the Garden of Eden on an inaccessible mountaintop.
[18] This could also refer to the Israelite camp's stay at biblical Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
The termination "ai", typically signifying the first person possessive plural, functions as a pluralis excellentiae like other titles for the Hebrew deity, Elohim ("gods") and Adonai "my lords".
The possessive quality of the termination had lost its sense and become the lexical form of both Shaddai and Adonai, similar to how the connotation of the French word Monsieur changed from "my lord" to being an honorific title.
[21][22][23] David Biale notes that five of the six times that the name El Shaddai appears in the Book of Genesis are in connection with fertility blessings for the Patriarchs, but ultimately argues for the meaning "almighty".
This led to soundalikes to the Hebrew in Ugaritic, Judaeo-, Syriac, and standard Aramaic, Harari, Jibbali, Soqotri, Mehri, and more.
[29] The Talmud explains it this way, but says that "Shaddai" stands for "Mi she'Amar Dai L'olamo" (Hebrew: מי שאמר די לעולמו) – "He who said 'Enough' to His world."
shed), which brings him down to Gehenna.Analogous is the case with mezuzah – a piece of parchment with two passages from the Book of Deuteronomy, curled up in a small encasement and affixed to a doorframe.
[35] However, this notarikon itself has its source most probably in Zohar Va’ethanan where it explains the meaning of the word Shaddai and connects it to mezuzah.
[36] The name "Shadday" can also be found on tefillin – a set of two black leather boxes strapped to head and arm during the prayers.