My Sunday school teacher once talked about the origin of the word "Adam" being associated with "Adom", which takes on the meaning of "dominion". Biblically speaking, I think this unconventional explanation could be quite appealing to Christians alike, but I'm really doubtful of its validity.
As Merriam-Webster Dictionary says, Adam originated from "Middle English, from Late Latin, from Greek, from Hebrew Ādhām", meaning "man" (New Oxford American Dictionry, 2nd ed).So this is the first time I heard it explained otherwise. Any evidence of that?
Best Answer
The Oxford English Dictionary supports the etymology given by M-W. The core meaning of Adam is ‘mankind’. There may be further connections with words from various languages meaning ‘earth, ground’ and ‘ruddy’. I’m not sure if it has any relevance, but Edom is another name for Esau.
There seems to be no recent etymological connection with words like dominion, which derives from Latin dominium, meaning ‘property’, and, ultimately, from dominus, meaning ‘lord’. There may just be the possibility that in Indo-European dominus had something in common with the word that produced Adam, but, unless someone knows better, that is speculation.