Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a salt lake between Israel and Jordan: the lowest lake in the world. 46 miles (74 km) long; 10 miles (16 km) wide; 1293 feet (394 meters) below sea level.
noun
- a lake between Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank, now 420 m (1378 ft) below sea level; originally 390 m (1285 ft): the lowest lake in the world, with no outlet and very high salinity; outline, esp at the southern end, reduced considerably in recent years. Area: originally about 950 sq km (365 sq miles); by 2003 about 625 sq km (240 sq miles)
mid-13c., from dead (adj.) + sea; its water is 26 percent salt (as opposed to 3 or 4 percent in most oceans) and supports practically no life. In the Bible it was the “Salt Sea” (Hebrew yam hammelah), also “Sea of the Plain” and “East Sea.” In Arabic it is al-bahr al-mayyit “Dead Sea.” The ancient Greeks knew it as he Thalassa asphaltites “the Asphaltite Sea.” Latin Mare Mortum, Greek he nekra thalassa (both “The Dead Sea”) referred to the sea at the northern boundaries of Europe, the Arctic Ocean.