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Hendrickson, Robert. "abyss." Writer's Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 18 Apr. 2025. <http://fofweb.infobase.com/wrc/Detail.aspx?iPin=EWPO00051>.
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abyss

Definition 
Abyss is one of the few English words that derive from Sumerian, the world's first written language, which evolved some 5,000 years ago in the lower Tigris and Euphrates Valley of what is now called Iraq. The word came into English in the late 14th century from the Latin word abyssus, meaning "bottomless, the deep," but has been traced ultimately to the primordial sea that the Sumerians called the Abzu. Another word with Sumerian roots is Eden, the word for the lost paradise that came into English from a Hebrew word.

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