dam vs Adam

In Sumerian the word dam meant spouse, in Indo-Iranian language Pali word dhamma meant righteousness, morality, goodness, you've probably heard same word in its modern popular form dharma ... from *dʰer- ("to hold, support"). It's the same word because according to the Sumerian lexicon dam is derived from da, 'side; nearness; to hold, protect' (page 33). The same word in Avestan Persian is dahm and it means pious or initiated. This shows how popular and wide-spread the word was: it originated as a casual one and became a religious term that survived through many centuries and several cultures.

In Old Persian, just like in Greek, there was a negation prefix a-, so non-pious was a-dahm (page 5). In all the Semitic languages the word adam means person, man. It's also used as a name in Bible for a guy who disobeys God (eats a forbidden fruit) and is punished for it. The choice of a character name tells us that author knew what a-dahm means. This also tells us that the word used by Semitic people to designate a person or man was, most likely, a derogatory term, used by the dahm people from Persia who ruled the region for centuries.