Etymologically
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leviathan

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Forms

Leviathan m, indeclinable.[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew לִוְיָתָן (livyathan, “dragon, serpent, huge sea animal”),[3][4] a word of unknown origin, perhaps from a root meaning “to wind, twist”, with the notion of a serpent's coils.[3][4] The DMLBS classes it as Late Latin.[5]

Isidore of Seville explained it as “a serpent of the waters” and interpreted the name as “their addition”;[6] a gloss likewise renders it with a plural of additāmentum (“addition”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It comes from the Latin Bible: the Vulgate has it in Job (3.8, 40.20), the Psalms (73.14, 103.26) and Isaiah (27.1),[8][4] for a fabulous monster, a twisting serpent, a dragon or a fearsome sea animal.[8]

Semantic evolution

Isidore identified Leviathan with Behemoth, the fallen angel made a beast, who “turns in the sea of this world with shifting cunning”.[6] In Medieval Latin the name stood for the sea monster of Job and Isaiah and, as a type, for Satan;[5][4] Köbler also gives the Nile crocodile.[4] Gervase of Tilbury calls a serpent “of the race of that most evil Leviathan, the serpent of the ocean”.[5]

English took the word in the late 14th century for a sea monster, sometimes seen as a form of Satan.[3]

Timeline

  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Job, the Psalms and Isaiah.[8][4]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name as “a serpent of the waters”.[6][4]
  • 956 – A charter has Leviatan for the devouring monster with open mouth.[5]
  • late 14th century – Borrowed into English as leviathan.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A biblical aquatic monster; a serpent or crocodile.[2][1][8]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The devil, of whom the monster is a type.[5][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  2. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ 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