WIND. the Eng. rendering of one Heb. and one Gr. term. The Heb. רוּחַ, H8120, is cognate to Ugaritic rḥ which many authorities trace to a hypothetical root rwḥ, which is doubtful as the Phoen. cognate is simply רח. The meaning is difficult but it seems to mean the “breath” or “breeze.” It is used of any stirring of the air whether by force of a storm (Hos 13:15) or by human breath (Job 9:18). A dialectal distribution of words for breath in the Sem. languages shows a confused pattern with many idiomatic expressions. Such expressions as ר֤וּחַ אַפֵּ֨ינוּ׃֙, “breath of our nostrils” (Lam 4:20) and הָרוּחֹ֖ת לְכָל־בָּשָׂ֑ר, “the spirits of all flesh” (Num 16:22), are semantically equivalent to similar expressions in other Sem. languages. No known etymology of the term exists although it occurs some 377 times in the OT. Interestingly enough it is totally absent from many books of the OT, and very frequent in others. As with all Sem. words used for physiological and psychological states the term frequently defies simple tr. and must be indicated by a paraphrase as in Job 4:9,

“By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of His anger they are consumed” (JPS).

By extension the term רוּחַ, H8120, also means “vanity” in the sense of an ephemeral unsubstantial quality (Jer 5:13), which is overlooked in the RSV rendering “wind” in numerous passages. The most difficult occurrence of the term is in the creation narrative in Genesis 1:2 which has traditionally but quite falsely been connected with 8:1. The true meaning of the hovering ר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים, “wind of the Almighty” is found in the use of the same phrase in Job 33:4, רֽוּחַ־אֵ֥ל, “wind of the Almighty,” which is properly rendered into Eng. from U. Cassuto Commentary on Genesis I (1961) p. 24, as “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Thus the “breath of the Almighty” in Genesis 1:2 and the “breathing of the breath of life” in 2:7 are properly connected and reflect divine activities.

The NT term is Gr. ἄνεμος, G449, “wind,” which is used for רוּחַ, H8120, some fifty times in the LXX, almost exclusively in descriptions of natural phenomena. The more common Gr. πνεῦμα, G4460, renders רוּחַ, H8120, in 274 citations, and a variety of rarer terms are used for the other 83 occurrences. The Gr. ἄνεμος, G449, means “natural winds” and is infrequently used for human “breath” or the quality of “spirit.” The KJV rendering of ἄνεμος, G449, by “wind” is followed by the great majority of Eng. VSS. Two important exceptions to the standard tr. do occur: (1) the rendering of Gr. πνεῦμα, G4460, as “wind” in Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:8), where the verbal form πνεῖ, from πνέω, G4463, “to blow” is used, is certain. Since there is no lower critical problem with that reading it must represent the original Aram. of the statement. The term rendered “wind” in some citations is Gr. πνοή, G4466, (Acts 2:2, et al.).