The
word dragon is used four times in the Book of Mormon. Two of the four
references are quotes from Isaiah (2 Ne. 8:9 [Is. 51:9]; 2 Ne. 23:22 [Is. 13:22])
Isaiah
13:22 And
the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons
in their pleasant palaces: and
her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
Comment: The Hebrew word thannîm is translated as dragons in this KJV verse. This is the plural form of tan and is sometimes translated as jackals or wild dogs.
Comment: The Hebrew word thannîm is translated as dragons in this KJV verse. This is the plural form of tan and is sometimes translated as jackals or wild dogs.
Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the
Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou
not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Comment: The Hebrew word tannîn is translated as dragons in this KJV verse. This is normally thought
of as a sea-serpent or sea monster. In a blog entitled “Moses and His Crocodile”1, Dr. Claude Mariottine quotes Simcha Jacobovici, the Naked Archaeologist, as saying: “Did you know that, when facing Pharaoh, it is not Moses that throws down his staff; it is his brother Aaron and, according to the original Hebrew [ed. Ex. 7:9-12], it did not turn into a snake but a crocodile? Since the Egyptians worshipped the crocodile god - Sobek, when Aaron's crocodile swallowed up the Egyptian crocodiles, Pharaoh understood that the God of Israel was more powerful than his entire pantheon. All this is lost if the Hebrew word ‘tanin’ is mistranslated as ‘snake’ instead of ‘crocodile.’” In this blog he quotes from many other sources that argue for the crocodile translation.
In the Oxford English Dictionary entry for dragon (meaning 3), we read the following.
In the Bible versions reproducing draco of the Vulgate and δράκων of the Septuagint, where the Hebrew has tannīn a great sea- or water-monster, a whale, shark, or crocodile, also a large serpent; or tan a desert mammalian animal, now understood to be the jackal, and so rendered in the Revised Version.
Comment: The Hebrew word tannîn is translated as dragons in this KJV verse. This is normally thought
of as a sea-serpent or sea monster. In a blog entitled “Moses and His Crocodile”1, Dr. Claude Mariottine quotes Simcha Jacobovici, the Naked Archaeologist, as saying: “Did you know that, when facing Pharaoh, it is not Moses that throws down his staff; it is his brother Aaron and, according to the original Hebrew [ed. Ex. 7:9-12], it did not turn into a snake but a crocodile? Since the Egyptians worshipped the crocodile god - Sobek, when Aaron's crocodile swallowed up the Egyptian crocodiles, Pharaoh understood that the God of Israel was more powerful than his entire pantheon. All this is lost if the Hebrew word ‘tanin’ is mistranslated as ‘snake’ instead of ‘crocodile.’” In this blog he quotes from many other sources that argue for the crocodile translation.
In the Oxford English Dictionary entry for dragon (meaning 3), we read the following.
In the Bible versions reproducing draco of the Vulgate and δράκων of the Septuagint, where the Hebrew has tannīn a great sea- or water-monster, a whale, shark, or crocodile, also a large serpent; or tan a desert mammalian animal, now understood to be the jackal, and so rendered in the Revised Version.
In the other two references (Mosiah 20:11; Alma
43:44), the word dragon is used as a simile for ferocity – both verses refer to
people who fight like dragons. It is entirely possible that of the whales,
sharks, crocodiles, and other animals that were tannīn,
the one animal that the Book of Mormon record keepers may have most easily seen
fighting with incredible ferocity was the crocodile.
People living on the Baja Peninsula would have
been familiar with crocodiles. Johan Jakob Baegert, a German Jesuit Priest who
had lived in Baja California between 1751 and 1768, in describing the small
water courses of Baja1
says: “in all of them abide alligators of considerable size and since some of
them are capable of devouring a full-grown man, it is necessary to be on guard
while drawing water, bathing, or washing. I have seen several of these
creatures.”3
Alligators4
are not found on Baja today5; however, the mangrove swamps that are a usual habitat
for alligators are rather common, especially on the East coast of Baja.
Further evidence that the people of this area
knew of crocodiles is furnished by Brian Stubbs. He has studied relationships
between the Uto-Aztecan languages and the Hebrew and Egyptian languages: the
Uto-Aztecan languages have a word for crocodile and it is related to the
Egyptian word for crocodile. A word for dragon is unknown in the Uto-Aztecan
languages.6
Sources:
1http://doctor.claudemariottini.com/2010/03/moses-and-his-crocodile.html;
1http://doctor.claudemariottini.com/2010/03/moses-and-his-crocodile.html;
2Reports from the
American Peninsula California translated from the Original German with
an Introduction and Notes, by M.M. Brandenburg and Carl L. Baumann, University
of California Press, Berkley, Los Angeles, London, copyright 1952 by the
Regents of the University of California. The original text is Nachrichten von der Amerikanischen Halbinsel
Californien by Johan Jakob Baegert, published in Germany in 1771;
3The English translation has different page numbering than the original German text. In the original German text this reference is found in Chapter One, page 2;
4The original German word Baegert used for this animal was Krokodillen - the English translators chose to translated it as alligators instead of crocodiles. The difference between an alligator and a crocodile is a modern taxonomy distinction that meant nothing before the 19th century – even today, under certain conditions, the distinction between the two is very difficult to make. Perhaps the most common distinction today between the two is that alligators are normally found in the Americas and crocodiles are found elsewhere;
5They were most likely hunted to extinction for their skins;
6Private communication between David Rosenvall and Brian Stubbs.
3The English translation has different page numbering than the original German text. In the original German text this reference is found in Chapter One, page 2;
4The original German word Baegert used for this animal was Krokodillen - the English translators chose to translated it as alligators instead of crocodiles. The difference between an alligator and a crocodile is a modern taxonomy distinction that meant nothing before the 19th century – even today, under certain conditions, the distinction between the two is very difficult to make. Perhaps the most common distinction today between the two is that alligators are normally found in the Americas and crocodiles are found elsewhere;
5They were most likely hunted to extinction for their skins;
6Private communication between David Rosenvall and Brian Stubbs.
