Definition

properly, salted (i.e. land), i.e. a desert

Etymology

from H4414 (מָלַח) (in its denominative sense); understood as land (H776 (אֶרֶץ))

Where the KJV renders it

• barren land(-ness)
• salt (land)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.