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DRAGON.—(1) tannîm (pl.), AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dragons,’ but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘jackals,’ Isa_13:22; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7, Job_30:29, Psa_44:19, Jer_10:22; Jer_49:33. (2) tannôth, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dragons,’ but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘jackals,’ Mal_1:3. See Jackal. (3) tannîm (sing.), ‘dragon,’ Eze_29:3; Eze_32:2, refers to Egypt, and probably means specially the crocodile (wh. see). (4) tannîn (pl. tannînim), tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in RV [Note: Revised Version.] of Gen_1:21 and Job_7:12 ‘sea monster(s)’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘whale(s)’); Aaron’s rod became a tannîn (Exo_7:9-12, EV [Note: English Version.] serpent [wh. see, §11]). The same term, tannîn, is also applied metaphorically to Pharaoh (Psa_74:13, Isa_51:9; and thus perhaps refers to the crocodile), and to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer_51:34). Doubtless many references here and elsewhere are tinged by current mythological tales of ‘dragons,’ such as that preserved in the Assyrian creation-epic of the contest between Marduk and Tiamat. The reference in Rev_12:3 ff. is certainly of this nature.
E. W. G. Masterman.