shaddai, “almighty,” strong’s H7706

First occurrence

And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHVH appeared to Abram, and said to him: “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be wholehearted.” Gen 17:1

Original Hebrew

Strong’s H7706 Shaddai, a concrete noun meaning, “Almighty;” from

Strong’s H7703 שדד shadad, a primitive root meaning, “to be strong, powerful.” The ancient pictographs are shin + dalet + dalet.

shin  ש  = two front teeth, thus sharp, press, eat, two, again
dalet  ד  = the door, thus enter, move, hang
dalet  ד  = the door, thus enter, move, hang

The related words help us to find the story. Most of the related words have to do with the breast, thus the story is two (shin) that hang down (dalet). The repeating dalet intensifies the hanging down, so breasts that are dried up as with age. Thus, “to dry up, to shrivel,” i.e. “to lay waste, to violently destroy,” as only one extremely strong and powerful can do.

THE ANCIENT HEBREW LEXICON | INDEX OF HEBREW ROOTS