I have been doing some research on women leaders in the Bible (and no, I'm not ready to post anything yet). This quest began before I listened to "The Making of Biblical Womanhood" by Beth Alison Barr (a book I highly recommend), but was rekindled by it. In order not to miss any women, I started scanning through the Bible from Genesis. Suddenly, I was struck by Genesis 5:2 (Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.). THEIR name Adam?! What does Adam mean? Thus began my exploration into the meaning of Bible names.
Adam (see H120) - ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
This name was given to both the man and the woman when they were created, see Genesis 5:2: "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." Sometimes this name is used to refer only to the man, however most of the time it is used to refer to human beings in general as we can see from Genesis 5:2. The majority of the time this word is translated as man (408x) or men (121x) as opposed to Adam (13x), person(s) (8x), common sort (1x) or hypocrite (1x). Every time, other than in Genesis 5:2, this word when translated as 'Adam' refers only to the first man.
There is another word that is translated as Adam (see H121), this word is used in some of the verses that are speaking specifically about the first man. It is not used to refer to human beings in general.
In the new testament the word Adam (see G76) has two definitions: Adam, the first man; typically (of Jesus) man (as his representative). Both uses of the word can be seen in 1 Corinthians: "For the scripture says, “The first man, Adam, was created a living being”; but the last Adam is the life-giving Spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:45 GNT). The first Adam was given life; the last Adam gives life.
Not only is this word translated differently within the one version of the Bible, it is also translated differently between versions of the Bible. Out of the 54 English translations listed on Bible Gateway, 28 use the word 'man' to refer to human beings in Genesis 1:26, e.g. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Genesis 1:26 KJV). Five use the word 'mankind'. The remaining 20 translations use the term 'humans', 'human beings', 'humankind' or 'humanity'. Why all the differences? Why the predominant use of the word man to refer to human beings?
If we were to look at the orgin of the word 'man' in the English language, we would find the following:
The etymologically primary sense of the word is 'human being, person,' and that is what it generally meant in Old English (Ayto, 1990).
Ayto (1990) goes on to explain how the sexes were distinguished with 'wer' for the male and 'wif' for the female.
During the Middle English and early modern English periods 'male person' gradually came to the fore, and today 'person' is decidedly on the decline (helped on its way by those who feel that the usage discriminates against women). Woman originated in Old English as a compound of wif 'woman, female' and man 'person' (Ayto, 1990).
The first English translations of the Bible were made during the time when the meaning of the word 'man' was gradually transitioning from 'human being, person' to 'male person'. This would appear to explain the two meanings that we can find when we read the Bible.
References:
Ayto, J (1990). Dictionary of Word Origins. Arcade Publishing: New York.
