muwth, “to die,” strong’s H4191

The first occurrence.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Gen 2:17

The primitive root.

Strong’s H4191 מות muwth, a primitive root meaning, “to die, to put to death.” The 3-letter root is mem + vav + tav.

mem  מ ,ם  = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
vav  ו  = the tent peg, thus add, secure, hook
tav  ת  = crossed sticks, thus mark, sign, signal, monument

The story: The Assyrians invented execution by crucifixion, as far as we know, but the Hebrew language predates crucifixion by millennia. But the most straightforward reading of the pictographs is of blood, or the life (mem, as the life is in the blood) nailed (vav) to the cross (tav), i.e. prophesying of the way Messiah would die in our place. By His death He defeated death forever.

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