ἄβυσσος

ἄβυσσος — ábyssos

ἄβυσσος, in classic greek an adjective, (ος, (from ὁ βύσσος equivalent to βυθός), bottomless (so perhaps in Wis 10:19), unbounded (πλοῦτος ἄβυσσος, Aeschylus, the Sept. (931) 950). in the Scriptures ἡ ἄβυσσος (the Sept. for תְּהום) namely, χώρα, the pit, the immeasurable depth, the abyss. Hence, of 'the deep' sea: Gen 1:2; Gen 7:11; Deu 8:7; Sir 1:3 Sir 16:18, etc.; of Orcus (a very deep gulf or chasm in the lowest parts of the earth: Psalms 70:20 ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς, Euripides, Phoen. 1632 (1605) ταρτάρου ἄβυσσα χάσματα, Clement of Rome, 1Cor. 20:5 [ET] ἀβύσσων ἀνεξιχνίαστα κλίματα, ibid. 59, 3 [ET] ὁ ἐπιβλέπων ἐν ταῖς ἀβύσσοις, of god; (Act. Thom.32ὁ τήν ἄβυσσον τοῦ ταρτάρου οἴκων, of the dragon)), both as the common receptacle of the dead, Rom 10:7, and especially as the abode of demons, Luk 8:31; Rev 9:1; Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1; Rev 20:3. Among secular authors used as a substantive only by Diogenes Laërtius 4 (5) 27 κατῆλθες εἰς μέλαιναν Πλουτέως ἄβυσσον. Cf. Knapp, Scripta var. Arg., p. 554f; (J. g. Müller, Philo's Lehre von der Weltschöpfung, p. 173f; B. D. American edition under the word ).