Editing Negev (section)

==Etymology==
The origin of the word ''Negev'' is from the [[Hebrew Language|Hebrew]] root denoting 'dry'; in the [[Hebrew Bible]], the word ''Negev'' is also used for the direction 'south'. Some English-language translations use the spelling ''Negeb''.

The Negev mentioned in the [[Bible]] (see [[Negev#Biblical |below]]) consisted only of the northernmost part of the modern Israeli Negev, with the [[semiarid]] [[Arad, Israel|Arad]]-[[Beersheba]] Valley defined as "the eastern (biblical) Negev".<ref name= BArieh>{{cite book |last= Beit-Arieh |first= Itzhaq |chapter= Introduction: Settlement |title= Tel Ira: a stronghold in the biblical Negev in the Eastern Negev |series= The Emery and Clare Yass Publications in Archaeology: Monograph Series of the Institute of Archaeology |publisher= Tel Aviv University |year= 1999 |number= 15 |isbn= 965-440-008-1 |chapter-url=http://mondrian.tau.ac.il/humanities/archaeology/publications/pub_mon15.html |access-date= 11 May 2024}}</ref>

In Arabic, the Negev is known as ''an-Naqab'' or ''an-Naqb'' ('the [mountain] pass'),<ref name=CIAP>{{cite book |chapter='Aqabah (Ailah) |title= Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae |series= Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik |first=Moshe |last=Sharon |year= 1997 |location= Leiden & Boston |publisher= Brill Academic Publishers |pages= 89–90 |isbn= 9789004108332 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC&pg=PA90 |quote= In fact, there are two mountain passes through which the road of Aylah has to cross. The western one crosses the mountain ridge to the west of the gulf, and through it passes the main road from Egypt which cuts through the whole width of Sinai, coming from Cairo via Suez. This mountain pass is also called 'Aqabat Aylah, or as it is better known, "Naqb al-'Aqabah" or "Ras an-Naqb." |access-date=1 May 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151123144344/https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=Arabic+%22naqb%22&source=bl&ots=b5BLvNcxPD&sig=9R29RFCDy9HWltM-nn0ZksBNDWQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=c61CVZmFJ8fxUouUgegG&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Arabic%20%22naqb%22&f=false |archive-date=23 November 2015 |author-link= Moshe Sharon }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=71SnYdunv1MC&pg=PA670 |title= Perspectives on Israeli Anthropology |first1= Esther |last1= Hertzog |first2= Orit |last2= Abuhav |first3= Harvey E. |last3= Goldberg |first4= Emanuel |last4= Marx |author-link4=Emanuel Marx|date= 8 May 2018 |publisher= Wayne State University Press |access-date= 8 May 2018 |via= Google Books |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160326234655/https://books.google.com/books?id=71SnYdunv1MC&pg=PA670&lpg=PA670&dq=%22Naqb%22+%22negev%22+bedouin&source=bl&ots=EmTXpblmiv&sig=7o-BSiNevrZIl2gHgYAoPirkBHE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=athCVZ7AG8T1aqa_gMgM&ved=0CEsQ6AEwCQ |archive-date= 26 March 2016 |isbn= 978-0814330500 }}</ref> though it was not thought of as a distinct region until the demarcation of the Egypt-Ottoman frontier in the 1890s and has no single Arabic name.<ref name=PEF1941>Palestine Exploration Quarterly (April 1941). ''The Negev, or Southern Desert of Palestine by George E. Kirk.'' London. Page 57.</ref>

During the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate]], it was called "Beersheba sub-district".<ref name=PEF1941/>