I am not religious myself, but lately I have found myself somewhat attracted to Ecclesiastes. Reading about it, I am fascinated about what seems to be endless meanings and interpretations of the word hevel. Wikipedia states, for example that the word can mean:
"vain", "futile", "empty", "meaningless", "temporary", "transitory", "fleeting," or "mere breath,"
Other sources agree with "vanity" and "emptiness", but also add "randomness" to the pile. What really starts to confuse me though is when I see it being used as a name:
Hevel as a boy's name is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Hevel is "breath, vapor". Also possibly (Assyrian) "meadow". Source form of Abel.
My question is, which of these "meanings" of the word are inherited or rather interpretations of the true meaning of the word? For example, if we assume "breath, vapor" is the original meaning of the word, one can see how the related meanings can arise from that, as a breath of air is very much temporary and fleeting, so is that the case or is there a more fundamental meaning of the word?
Hopefully this question makes sense and is ok within the frames of this site.