( This image may show the animal in question.) Perhaps lacking a specific word for the aurochs, but being aware of what it looked like, the translators described in as the monkeros ("one-horned") because of the one horn. The aurochs, it seems, was typically depicted in Assyrian art from a profile view with gives it the appearance of having one horn. The unicorn mistranslation derives from the Septuagint. The cuneiform ideogram confines him to the mountains. reaching back four thousand years earlier than any Hebrew text that we have, give the word rimu repeatedly. The decisive factor came with the deciphering of the cuneiform inscriptions. Godbey: (As an aside, this article is a fascinating read on the history of the understanding of the passages, rhinoceros trade, and various other things.) The linguistic history is laid out in detail in The Unicorn in the Old Testament (1939) by Allen H. This view is supported by the Assyrian "rimu," which is often used as a metaphor of strength, and is depicted as a powerful, fierce, wild, or mountain bull with large horns. 11), best fit the aurochs (Bos primigenius). The allusions to the "re'em" as a wild, untamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty horns (Job xxxix. ( Wikipedia credits Johann Ulrich Duerst for this discovery, while a YBP article from January 2010 edition (link missing) says it was Henry Rawlinson.) In any case, the idea made an impact quickly as can be seen by, for example, the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article: 1900), the Akkadian cognate word rimu was discovered. (Edit: Bruce James' answer does say "the ראם is a type of cow", which would be consistent with the aurochs conclusion.)Īround the turn of the twentieth century (i.e. Interestingly, despite there being several good answers here, no one has yet raised the possibility that the word ראם ( re'em) refers to an animal known as the aurochs or urus ( Bos primigenius). The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea: Maspero, G. This book deals extensively with the word reim (spelled as re'em), the question of unicorns and many other difficult to translate animals in the Bible (some relevant content is available to read as a free preview on google books). Measuring seven feet four inches but I believe the rhinoceros is that Marine animal of the whale kind, a horn of which is now before me, Snout but this is not a land animal, it is the modiodan or nurwal, a With one large curled ivory horn growing horizontally out of his There is literally a monoceros, or unicorn, Some think the beast intended is a species of goat but the rhinoceros Have two horns on the nose, or the wild bull, urus, or buffalo though Has its name from the horn on its nose, is supposed to be meant.TheĬreature referred to is either the rhinoceros, some varieties of which In the text rhinocerotis, by which the rhinoceros, a creature which Unicorn, or one-horned animal the Vulgate, sometimes, unicornus and The Septuagint translate the word μονοκερως, the It is difficult to say what kind of beast is intended by the God brought them out of Egypt they have the strength of a wild ox. The word under inspection is reim (Hebrew: ראם). David Boswell is absolutely correct - animal names are consistently difficult to translate.
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