== 語源 ==
トーキルド・ヤコブセンとウォルター・ブルケルトは、アッカド語の海を意味する単語tâmtu(𒀀𒀊𒁀)と関係があり、初期の形tiamtumに続いていると主張している<ref>Jacobsen, 1968, p105</ref><ref>Burkert, Walter, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influences on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1992, pages92f, isbn:0-674-64363-1</ref>。ブルケルトはさらに、テティスと言語的な関連性を指摘する。ヘレニズム時代のバビロニアの作家ベロッサスの『万国史』第一巻に登場する「Θαλάτη、thaláttē」は、ギリシャ語の「Θάλατα、thálatta」と明らかに関係があり、「Θάλασα、thalassa」の東方変化形「海」である。。ブルケルトはさらに、テティスと言語的な関連性を指摘する。ヘレニズム時代のバビロニアの作家ベロッサスの『万国史』第一巻に登場する「Θαλάτη、thaláttē」は、ギリシャ語の「Θάλατα、thálatta」と明らかに関係があり、「Θάλασα、thalassa」の東方変化形「海」である。アッカド語の『エヌマ・エリシュ』写本では、ティアマトの代わりに普通の言葉であるタームトゥ(「海」)が使われ、この2つの名前は連想されて本質的に同じになってしまったため、原典の二次翻訳では、ボキャティブ(構築形)であるティアマトという固有名詞が削除されたと考えられている<ref>Jacobsen, 1968, p105</ref>。
[[Thorkild Jacobsen]] and [[Walter Burkert]] both argue for a connection with the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] word for sea, ''[[wikt:𒀀𒀊𒁀#Akkadian|tâmtu]]''({{cuneiform|𒀀𒀊𒁀}}), following an early form, ''ti'amtum''. Burkert continues by making a linguistic connection to [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]. The later form {{lang-grc|Θαλάττη|translit=thaláttē|label=none}}, which appears in the Hellenistic Babylonian writer [[Berossus]]' first volume of universal history, is clearly related to Greek {{Lang-grc|Θάλαττα|thálatta|label=none}}, an Eastern variant of {{Lang-grc|Θάλασσα|[[thalassa]]|label=none|lit=sea}}. It is thought that the proper name ti'amat, which is the [[vocative]] or [[Construct state|construct]] form, was dropped in secondary translations of the original texts because some Akkadian copyists of ''Enûma Elish'' substituted the ordinary word ''tāmtu'' ("sea") for Tiamat, the two names having become essentially the same due to association.{{sfn|Jacobsen|1968|p=105}} ''Tiamat'' also has been claimed to be [[cognate]] with [[Northwest Semitic]] ''[[tehom]]'' (תְּהוֹם) ("the deeps, abyss"), in the [[Book of Genesis]] 1:2.<ref>{{cite book |last=Yahuda |first=A. |title=The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian |location=Oxford |year=1933 }}</ref>
The Babylonian epic ''[[Enuma Elish]]'' is named for its [[incipit]]: "When above" the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, [[Apsu]] the subterranean ocean was there, "the first, the begetter", and Tiamat, the overground sea, "she who bore them all"; they were "mixing their waters". It is thought that female deities are older than male ones in [[Mesopotamia]] and Tiamat may have begun as part of the cult of [[Nammu]], a female principle of a watery creative force, with equally strong connections to the underworld, which predates the appearance of Ea-Enki.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steinkeller |first=Piotr |chapter=On Rulers, Priests and Sacred Marriage: Tracing the Evolution of Early Sumerian Kingship |editor-last=Wanatabe |editor-first=K. |title=Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East |location=Heidelberg |publisher=Winter |year=1999 |pages=103–38 |isbn=3-8253-0533-3 }}</ref>