Etymology

land of the living

Today it means: The mortal world, as opposed to the afterlife. Full definition →

Biblical Hebrew חַיִּים בְּאֶרֶץ
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Biblical Hebrew · calque ofחַיִּים בְּאֶרֶץ
  2. English todayland of the living

Calque of Biblical Hebrew חַיִּים בְּאֶרֶץ from Psalm 27:13. Similar phrases are also found in other religions and mythologies, such as the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.