I think I got it right this time. Let's start with the passage again:
... quia Jesus secundum antiquam Hebraicam linguam coelum est, terra autem iterum 'sura usser dicitur.
which is rendered by Harvey as:
... for Jesus in the ancient Hebrew language means "heaven," while again "earth" is expressed by the words sura usser.
and I would slightly change
... for IS according to the ancient Hebrew language is "heaven," but on the other hand "earth" sura usser is said
The 'r' in usser (reversed = ressu) could well be a dalet mistaken as a resh. This is a quite common mistake:
In most Semitic alphabets, the letter resh (and its equivalents) is quite similar to the letter dalet (and its equivalents). In the Syriac alphabet, the letters became so similar that now they are only distinguished by a dot: resh has a dot above the letter, and the otherwise identical dalet has a dot below the letter.
so if we make this one substitution and put the letters on the page we get:
suraussed
which becomes immediately obvious in the context:
d'ess v'arets
which is:
of fire and earth
so if we look at the translation again:
... for IC in the ancient Hebrew language is "heaven," while again "earth" "which fire and earth" is said
This would imply at least that the IC originated from the Hebrew word for fire in Irenaeus's mind. Notice the original statement that IC = heaven. This is a common understanding in the traditional Jewish conception of the universe.
The authors of the Bible shared the idea of a four-element hierarchical construct with their pagan neighbors viz. four elements—Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire. So Proverbs Ecclesiastes 1:4-7:
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth forever stands. [Earth]
The sun rises and the sun comes, and hastens to the place where it rises. [Fire]
The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. [Wind]
All streams run to the sea, but the sea does not fill; to the place where the streams run to, there they run again. [Water]
The sun here not only embodies fire and light, which until as late as the eighteenth century were considered one and the same. The sun also conjures up the concept of heaven, as it was modeled in Genesis:
“Let there be lights [Fire] in the firmament of the heaven.” (Genesis 1:14)
Indeed, the heavens, or shamayim, may correspond to the very word for sun, shemesh. Today we know that outer space is dark and frigid. But in biblical times, the heavens were considered solid, translucent, and fully radiant—a dome of solidified energy—home of the sun and the star-lights, and the source of lightning. In the biblical worldview, without a heaven above, the earth would be cold and dark.
Transcending its energetic attributes, the biblical vision of heaven also equates it with a metaphysical realm of Fire—as the high kingdom of serafim. Thus, in his grand description of God’s heavenly chariots, Ezekiel reports:
The likeness of the living creatures, their appearance like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of torches… and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.... (Ezekiel 1:13-14, 27-28)
Likewise, when ascending to this realm, Elijah’s horse and carriage were made of fire, and God’s fire repeatedly falls from heaven to devour sacrificial offerings, and the wicked. In one story, an angel of God transports himself to heaven through a rising flame, in front of Samson’s parents’ eyes. Many other examples—in the Bible as well as the Apocrypha—feature the fire-nature of heaven’s canopy and the heavenly kingdom. When our forefathers looked up into the sky, this is what they envisioned. Day or night, the sky-dome was ablaze.
Once we understand that the heavens, shamayim, are a literal embodiment of fire, the four elements emerge in many additional verses. Discussing man’s inferiority to God, for instance, Proverbs asks rhetorically:
Who has ascended into Heaven [Fire] and descended?
Who gathered the Wind in his fists?
Who bound the Water in a garment?
Who established all the ends of the earth? (Proverbs 30:4)
Likewise, in Psalm 18:
8. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. [Earth]
9-10. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens coming down, arafel under his feet. [Fire/Heaven]
11. And he rode upon a cherub, and flew; he flew upon the wings of the wind. [Wind]
12. He made darkness his secret place; his dwelling the dark water, and rain-clouds of the skies. [Water]
These and other references show how early the four-element scheme was manifest in ancient Israelite writings.26 Indeed, the very first two verses of the Bible invoke these same elements:
In the beginning God created the heaven [fire] and the earth.... And the wind of God hovered upon the face of the water. (Genesis 1:1-2)
This primordial blueprint can be discerned in the subsequent unfolding of creation, for the first six days comprise two sets of three, each opening with a distinct element. Days one and four both start with light, or fire. Days two and five are initiated by water. And days three and six both stem from the earth element. Thus, “in six days the Lord made heaven [fire] and earth, the sea, and all that is in them." (Exodus 20:11)
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“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote