bottomless pit

The now commonly-used English idiom “bottomless pit” (for something that holds a very large amount of something) was first coined in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale (spelled as bottomlesse pytt) for the Greek abussos. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 289)

For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.

abyss, bottomless pit

The Greek and Ge’ez that is translated as “abyss” or “bottomless pit” in English is translated as “unfathomably deep place” or “land below” in Indonesian, “land below” in Batak Toba, or “the deep where the earth opens its mouth” in Sranan Tongo (a term well-known from folk tales). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

In a 1922 translation into Chagatai, a precursor language of both Uzbek and Uighur, it is translated with hāwiyat, derived from the Arabic Islamic Al-Hāwīya (الهاوية), “the lowest level of the hell” (Source: F. Erbay and F.N. Küçükballı in Acta Theologica 2025 45/2, p. 133ff. and Hawiya )

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as as Höllenschlund or “entrance to hell (lit.: “throat of hell”).”

See also bottomless pit.