shamayim, “heaven,” strong’s H8064

First occurrence

In the beginning God Elohiym created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:1

The primitive root

Strong’s H8064 shamayim, a concrete noun meaning, “heaven;” according to Strong’s, it is the dual of an unused singular concrete noun, shameh שמה; itself from an unused primitive root שמי meaning, “to be lofty.” Thus shamayim denotes

“the sky as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve.” – Strong’s

The ancient pictographs of the primitive root are shin + mem + yud.

shin ש = two front teeth, thus sharp, press, eat, two, again
mem מ, ם = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
yud י = the closed hand, thus work, throw, worship

The breath (shin, as that which passes through the teeth) carries water  (mem, in the form of vapor) from the body, as the air or wind carries water vapor from the earth. The water vapor rises upward (yud, in the context of throwing) to form clouds, that which is aloft in the sky.

THE ANCIENT HEBREW LEXICON | INDEX OF HEBREW ROOTS