leviathan

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ləˈvaɪəθ(ə)n/; /lɪˈvaɪəθn̩/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English leviathan,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin leviathan,^[2][4][5][3] from Hebrew לִוְיָתָן (liwyāṯān, “dragon, serpent, huge sea animal”),^[2][4][5][3] of unknown origin.^[5][6] It is perhaps from the root לוה (l-w-h, “to wind, twist”), describing a coiled serpent,^[5][7][8][9] related to Hebrew לִוְיָה (liwyāh, “wreath”) and Arabic لَوَى (lawā, “to bend, twist”).^[5][7][8] The AHD compares the Canaanite serpent Lotan.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An aquatic animal of enormous size mentioned in Hebrew poetry, and Satan as the great enemy of God (1382 in the OED; before 1382 in Barnhart).^[10][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the Bible Leviathan is sometimes taken for a whale, sometimes a crocodile and sometimes the Devil.^[11][12] The sense of a man of vast power or wealth dates from 1607,^[10][4] and the word was used attributively for “huge, monstrous” from 1624.^[10] In 1651 Thomas Hobbes used Leviathan as the title of his treatise on sovereign power, for the commonwealth or state,^[10][11][13] and later uses for an autocratic or totalitarian state derive from it.^[11][3] From about 1801 it also meant a ship of huge size.^[10][14]

Timeline

• 1382 – the biblical sea monster, and Satan.^[10][4]
• 1607 – a man of vast power.^[10][4]
• 1624 – attributive, huge.^[10]
• 1651 – Hobbes's Leviathan, the state.^[10][13]
• c. 1801 – a huge ship.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A monstrous sea creature mentioned in the Old Testament, often capitalized.
2. A very large animal, especially a whale.
3. Something unusually large or powerful of its kind, especially a ship.
4. (political philosophy) The state, especially a totalitarian one with a vast bureaucracy; usually capitalized.

Adjective

1. Of enormous size; monstrous.

Related words

• behemoth
• colossus
• titan
• whale

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster