Etymologically
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Behemoth

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Forms

Behemoth (indeclinable)[1] Medieval spellings include Vehemoth, Beemoth and Boemoth.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew בְּהֵמוֹת (behemót), the name of the great beast in the Book of Job.[5][6][7] Etymonline reports that the Hebrew word is usually taken as an intensive plural of the word for “beast”, and that it may be a reshaping of an Egyptian name of the hippopotamus meaning “water-ox”.[7] Isidore of Seville says the Hebrew word means “animal” in Latin, because it fell from on high to earth and for its deserts became like a brute beast.[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It comes into Latin with Jerome.[6] His translation of Job has ecce Behemoth, quem fēcī tēcum, “behold Behemoth, which I made with you”,[6][1] and in a letter Jerome lists it beside Leviathan among the names by which Scripture calls the devil.[6]

Semantic evolution

Isidore of Seville identifies it with Leviathan, the serpent of the waters,[8] and the glossaries explain it simply as “animal”.[6][9] Medieval writers used it for the devil: Aldhelm has the spelling Vehemoth, and Byrhtferth's Life of Oswald has a prince Beemoth rising with his followers.[4] The MLW also records it for a kind of serpent that binds its prey with its tail, in Arnold of Saxony.[2][3] Köbler adds the sense “hippopotamus”.[3]

English behemoth comes from it, in the late 14th century.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in Job and in a letter.[6][3]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it as “animal”.[6][8][3]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it for the devil.[4][3]
  • c. 1225 – Arnold of Saxony uses it for a serpent.[2][3]
  • late 14th century – English behemoth is taken from it.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Behemoth, the huge beast of the Book of Job.[6][1]
  2. (Late and Medieval Latin) The devil, Satan.[6][4][2][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A kind of serpent.[2][4][3]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The hippopotamus.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  2. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  9. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften