Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Kevin W. Woodruff" <cierpke AT prodigy.net>]

Ian:

The current word for elephant is the the Hebrew word PIYL (Pe-Yodh-Lamed)
and is of post-biblical origin, occuring in the Talmud most likely through
the Egyptian and Syrain influence. The term SHENHABBIYM means "ivory" and by
extension could mean "elephant" and is used in 1 Kings 10:22 and the
parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 9:21., and so is of post-exilic origin,
although that's only a supposition based upon those two usages. I would
supposed that the hebrew BEHEMOTH could include elephants, although it
usually is used for all types of animals.

Kevin






At 03:29 PM 7/2/2000 +0200, you wrote:
>Does anyone know if or when the Hebrew word for "elephant" was first
>introduced in antiquity, and in what literature? Could the idea have been
>included in some more general animal term?
>
>(I note that the Aramaic description in Daniel 7 of the fourth beast is
>almost certainly an elephant, but is not named, though the other three were.)
>
>Thanks for any indications.
>
>
>Ian
>
>
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Kevin W. Woodruff, M. Div.
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Professor of New Testament Greek
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