marar, “to be bitter,” strong’s H4843

First occurrence

The archers have dealt bitterly with him, and shot at him, and hated him … Gen 49:23

The primitive root

Strong’s H4843 מרר marar, a primitive root meaning, “to be bitter.” The ancient pictographs are mem + resh + resh.

mem מ, ם = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man

The story being told is of water (mem) at its head (resh) which is the river’s beginning (resh), i.e., the headwaters of a river. According to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon:

The headwaters of a river are only a trickle and have stagnant pools causing the water to be bitter.

The concrete noun is bitter, i.e., a thing which is of a bitter taste; but the abstract concept is weakness, because when someone endures a bitter sickness, weakness results. Other cognate words are lamb, as a weak animal; rebellion, as someone with a bitter attitude; irritation, as a disease can cause a bitter irritation; pit, as a place where waters stagnate, becoming bitter; bile, as the stomach fluid is bitter; venom, as the bitter poisonous fluid produced by a serpent; and myrrh, perhaps in its capacity as the positive spin, for myrrh is a sweet-smelling spice.

THE ANCIENT HEBREW LEXICON | INDEX OF HEBREW ROOTS