Biblical Hebrew Forum

["JP van de Giessen" <vdgiessen AT solcon.nl>]

Joseph,

You are right, so maybe we must give a more general translation like 
"monster".

Jan Pieter van de Giessen
http://www.bijbelaantekeningen.nl/blog/

On Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:54:45 -0700, Joseph Roberts wrote
> I think that the word would have to have a meaning understood by the
> people of that day, Whether you are a secular student of the Tanakh 
> or a fervent believer in the text, I think both should reach the 
> conclusion that the text was written in the everyday language of 
> time period in which it was penned. So if the KJV translators 
> translated it as "dragon" from their understanding of the world at 
> their time, at best this would be a dynamic equivalent. I think the 
> million dollar question is "What did the Hebrew speaking person from 
> that era understand that word to mean when he picked up the text and 
> read it." Of course maybe we can not piece together the meaning of 
> the word from the available information, maybe it is just a general 
> word for a group of creatures rather than a specific creature or 
> species. The LXX seems to use a word for a half-donkey half-man 
> called an "onocentaur." Thanks, -Joseph Roberts