On the Hebrew expression yam sûf see Montgomery
1938, Snaith 1965; Batto 1983, Wyatt, 1990a, 71-1; id. 1996b, 84-9; id. 2001c.
The etymology based on Hebrew sûf 'come to an end', is preferable to the
common explanation based on Egyptian twfy, 'reed' (thus 'Sea of
Reeds', still espoused by HALOT ii 747). Cf. the Jewish divine title 'En
Sof, 'the One without End'. The 'Red Sea' interpretation comes from the
Greek Bible (ερυθρα
θαλασσα). The following instances are good
examples of the evidently cosmological, rather than merely geographical, sense
of the term. (Nicholas Wyatt, Space
and Time in the Religious Life of the Near East [Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic Press, 2001], 86)
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