Editing Dead Sea (section)

==Names==
The [[English language|English]] name "Dead Sea" is a [[calque]] of the [[#Arabic|Arabic name]], itself a calque of [[#Ancient Greek and Latin|earlier Greek and Latin names]],<ref>{{cite web |author-link=Justin (historian) |title=Justin's History of the World 36.3 |url=https://topostext.org/work/226#36.3 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Topos Text |publisher=[[Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.7.4-5 |url=https://topostext.org/work/213#5.7.4 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=ToposText |publisher=[[Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation]] |language=en}}</ref> in reference to the scarcity of aquatic life caused by the lake's extreme salinity.<ref name=NJE>{{cite book |author1=David Bridger |author2=Samuel Wolk |title=The New Jewish Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZqpCrG3qw0C&pg=PA109 |access-date=July 25, 2011 |date=September 1976 |publisher=Behrman House, Inc |isbn=978-0-87441-120-1 |page=109 |quote=It was named the "Dead Sea" because of the fact that no living thing can exist there, since the water is extremely salty and bitter. |archive-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030075941/https://books.google.com/books?id=hZqpCrG3qw0C&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>
Historical English names include the {{nowrap|'''Salt Sea'''}},<ref name="natgeo">{{citation |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fHI9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA458 458] |last=Morse |first=Jedidiah |title=The American Universal Geography... |volume=2 |edition=7th |location=Boston |publisher=Lincoln & Edmands |date=1819 }}</ref> {{nowrap|'''Lake of Sodom'''}}<ref name="natgeo"/> from the biblical account of its destruction<ref name="sodom"/> and {{nowrap|'''Lake Asphaltites'''}}<ref name="natgeo"/> from [[#Ancient Greek and Latin|Greek and Latin]].

The name "Dead Sea" occasionally appears in [[Hebrew literature]] as {{lang|he-Latn|Yām HamMāvet}} ({{lang|he|{{linktext|ים}} {{linktext|ה}}{{linktext|מוות}}}}), 'Sea of Death'.<ref name=NJE/>
The usual [[Biblical Hebrew|biblical]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Gen|14|3|KJV}}</ref> and modern Hebrew name for the lake is the {{nowrap|Sea of Salt}} ({{wikt-lang|he|ים המלח}}, {{Audio|He-Dead Sea.ogg|{{lang|he-Latn|Yām HamMelaḥ|nocat=y}} |help=no}}). Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the [[Bible]] are the {{nowrap|Sea of [[Arabah]]}} ({{lang|he|{{linktext|ים|&nbsp;|ה|ערבה}}}}, {{lang|he-Latn|Yām Ha'Ărāvâ}}) and the {{nowrap|Eastern Sea}} ({{lang|he|{{linktext|ה|ים|&nbsp;|ה|קדמוני}}}}, {{lang|he-Latn|HaYām HaQadmōnî}}). In the [[Talmud]] it's called '{{nowrap|Sea of Salt}}'<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jerusalem Talmud Kilayim 9:3:16 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Kilayim.9.3.16?ven=hebrew%7CThe_Jerusalem_Talmud%2C_edition_by_Heinrich_W._Guggenheimer._Berlin%2C_De_Gruyter%2C_1999-2015&lang=he |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=[[Sefaria]] |quote=ימא דמילחא}}</ref> or 'Sea of Sodom'.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bava Batra 74b:12 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.74b.12?ven=hebrew%7CWilliam_Davidson_Edition_-_Vocalized_Aramaic&lang=he |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Sefaria |quote=ימה של סדום}}</ref>

The [[Arabic]] name is {{Audio|ArDeadSea.ogg|{{lang|ar-Latn|al-Bahr al-Mayyit|nocat=y}}|help=no}} ({{wikt-lang|ar|البحر الميت}}), or usually without the article ''al-'', so just {{lang|ar-Latn|Bahr}} etc.<ref name="ReferenceA">The first article {{lang|ar-Latn|al-}} is unnecessary and usually not used.</ref>
It is also known in Arabic as the {{nowrap|Sea of [[Lot (Bible)|Lot]]}} ({{wikt-lang|ar|بحر لوط}}, {{lang|ar-Latn|Buhayrat}},<ref name="Sharon">{{cite book |author=Moshe Sharon |author-link=Moshe Sharon |title=Bani Na'im: Maqam an-Nabi Lut |series=[[Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae]] (CIAP) |volume=Two: B–C |page=15 (of pp.12–21) |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, Boston, Cologne |year=1999 |isbn=978-90-04-11083-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPFDU8POrXIC&q=Brekke |access-date=30 December 2019 |archive-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030075942/https://books.google.com/books?id=EPFDU8POrXIC&q=Brekke#v=onepage&q=Brekke&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> {{lang|ar-Latn|Bahret}}, or {{lang|ar-Latn|Birket Lut}})<ref name="LOC">{{cite book |title= Dead Sea: Israel and Jordan  |edition= 14th |volume= 1: A–E |page= 1163 |publisher= Cataloging Distribution Service, Library of Congress |location= Washington, D.C. |year= 1991 |issn= 1048-9711 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eCzC6pfXfJIC&pg=PA1163 |access-date= 30 December 2019 |archive-date= 30 October 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231030075942/https://books.google.com/books?id=eCzC6pfXfJIC&pg=PA1163#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status= live }}</ref> from the nephew of [[Abraham]] whose wife was said to have turned into a pillar of salt during the destruction of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]].<ref name="sodom">{{bibleverse|Gen|19|KJV}}</ref> Less often, it has been known in Arabic as the Sea of [[Zoara|Zo'ar]] from a formerly important city along its shores.

Because of the large volume of [[ancient trade routes|ancient trade]] in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating [[bitumen]], its usual names in [[ancient Greek geographers|ancient Greek]] and [[ancient Roman geographers|Roman geography]] were some form of {{nowrap|[[Bitumen|Asphalt]] Lake}} ({{langx|grc|Ἀσφαλτίτης}} or {{lang|grc|Ἀσφαλτίτις [[:wikt:λίμνη|Λίμνη]]}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|Asphaltítēs}} or {{lang|grc-Latn|Asphaltítis Límnē}}; {{langx|la|[[:wikt:lacus|Lacus]] Asphaltites}}) or Sea ({{lang|grc|Ἀσφαλτίτης Θάλασσα}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|Asphaltítēs Thálassa}}).
It was also known as the 'Dead Sea' ([[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:νεκρά|Νεκρά]] [[:wikt:θάλασσα|Θάλασσα]]}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|Nekrá Thálassa}}, [[Latin]] ({{lang|la|[[:wikt:mare|Mare]] [[:wikt:mortuum|Mortuum]]}}).{{citation needed|date= March 2024}}