תנין

Forms

תַּנִּין (tannîn) noun, masculine, plural תַּנִּינִים^[1][4] Plural תַּנִּינִם; twice spelled תַּנִּים (Ezekiel 29:3, 32:2), by confusion with the plural of תַּן (tan, “jackal”).^[5][2] MACULA counts 12 occurrences under this spelling.^[1]

Etymology

HALOT calls the origin of “sea monster” uncertain: it may be a primary noun or come from a root תנן (tnn).^[2] It is old in Northwest Semitic: Ugaritic tnn (“dragon”), the sea god Yam's ally in the myths, written syllabically “tunnanu”, and Egyptian Aramaic תנין (tnyn, “sea serpent”) in the proverbs of Ahiqar.^[6][2][7] Later it appears in Jewish Aramaic תַּנִּינָא (tannînā), Classical Syriac ܬܲܢܝܼܢܵܐ (tannīnā, “sea serpent”), Ge'ez ተመን (taman, “dragon, serpent”) and Arabic تِنِّين (tinnīn, “dragon”).^[2][8][9] BDB and Klein take the Arabic for a loan from Aramaic, and HALOT notes that the later forms could all come from Hebrew, but that Ugaritic and Egyptian Aramaic show a much older word.^[5][9][2]

Wiktionary derives it from Akkadian danninu (“netherworld”), and Gesenius–Buhl reports Jensen's comparison of the same Akkadian word for “earth”.^[4][10] Klein thinks Ancient Greek θύννος (thúnnos, “tuna”) probably borrowed from the Hebrew, but Beekes calls it a Mediterranean word and notes that the comparison is rejected by Chantraine.^[9][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its oldest use is in the Song of Moses, an archaic poem: ḥămaṯ tannînim yênām “their wine is the venom of serpents” (Deuteronomy 32:33).^[12][1] In the Priestly creation story God creates hattannînim haggəḏōlîm “the great sea monsters” (Genesis 1:21).^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

HALOT notes that in the cognate languages the word always means a sea monster or dragon, while Biblical Hebrew also uses it for an ordinary snake.^[2] The sea monster is created by God (Genesis 1:21), called to praise him (Psalm 148:7), and in the poetry of the prophets and Psalms defeated by him, beside Rahab and Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1, 51:9, Psalm 74:13).^[2][5] Jeremiah compares Nebuchadnezzar, who has swallowed Jerusalem, to a dragon (Jeremiah 51:34).^[2] The snake is Aaron's staff turned into a tannîn (Exodus 7:9–12) and the venomous serpent of Deuteronomy 32:33 and Psalm 91:13, and in Ezekiel 29:3 and 32:2 the crocodile stands for Pharaoh.^[2] The Septuagint usually translates Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn), once κῆτος (kêtos).^[1][13] Modern Hebrew תַּנִּין (tanín) means “crocodile”.^[4][9]

Timeline

• Archaic Hebrew poetry – ḥămaṯ tannînim in the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:33).^[12][1]
• Classical Biblical Hebrew – the sea monsters of Genesis 1:21 and the serpent of Exodus 7.^[1]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint renders it as Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn).^[14][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 37 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls, among them the Damascus Document.^[15][16]

Meanings

Noun

1. a sea monster, a sea dragon, the mythical opponent of God.^[2][5]
2. a dragon, as an image of a devouring king.^[2]
3. a serpent, a snake.^[2][5]
4. a crocodile, as an image of Pharaoh.^[2]

Descendants

• Modern Hebrew תַּנִּין (tanín)^[4]

Related words

• תַּן (tan)

Usage notes

The Biblical Aramaic adjective תִּנְיָן “second” (Daniel 7:5) is spelled the same way in consonants, but comes from the Aramaic numeral “two”.^[17][7] The place name ʿên hattannîn “Dragon's Spring” (Nehemiah 2:13) is the same noun.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. תַּנִּין
3. ^ Højgaard, Christian Canu; Naaijer, Martijn; Schorch, Stefan (2023), Text-Fabric Dataset of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7734632
4. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e Brown, Francis; Driver, S. R.; Briggs, Charles A. (1906), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. תַּנִּין
6. ^ del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2015), A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition, 3rd ed., transl. W. G. E. Watson, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. tnn I
7. ^ a b Kaufman, Stephen A., ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, cal.huc.edu, p. s.v. tnyn
8. ^ Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 1655
9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. תַּנִּין
10. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. תַּנִּין
11. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. θύννος
12. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 69
13. ^ Tov, Emanuel; Kraft, Robert A. (1987), CATSS Parallel Aligned Hebrew and Greek Texts of Jewish Scripture, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania (Oxford Text Archive 1111)
14. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
15. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
16. ^ Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
17. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. תִּנְיָן