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toÌ‚r´tus, toÌ‚r´tis, toÌ‚r´tois. (the King James Version) (צב, caÌ„bh, the Revised Version (British and American) “great lizardâ€; compare the Arabic word, dÌ£abb, the thorny-tailed lizard): The word caÌ„bh occurs as the name of an animal only in , being the third in the list of unclean “creeping things.â€
The same word is found in , translated “litters,†and in , where ‛eghloÌ„th caÌ„bh is translated “covered wagons.†Gesenius derives the word, in all senses, from the root caÌ„bhabh, “to move gently,†“to flowâ€; compare Arabic dabba, “to flow.†The Arabic noun dabb is Uromastix spinipes, the Arabian thorny-tailed lizard. This lizard is about 18 inches long, its relatively smooth body being terminated with a great tail armed with rings of spiny scales. The Arabs have a familiar proverb, 'a‛kÌ£ad min dhanab udÌ£-dÌ£abb, “knottier than the tail of the dÌ£abb.†The Septuagint has for caÌ„bh in ὁ κÏοκοÌδειλος ὁ χεÏσαῖος, ho krokoÌdeilos ho chersaıÌos, the English equivalent of which, “land-crocodile,†is used by the Revised Version (British and American) for the fifth in the list of unclean “creeping things,†koÌ„ahÌ£, the King James Version “chameleon.â€
The writer does not know what can have led the translators of the King James Version to use here the word “tortoise.†Assuming that the thorny-tailed lizard is meant, the “great lizard†of the Revised Version (British and American) may be considered to be a fair translation. See LIZARD.