DRAGON . (1) tannîm (pl.), AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dragons,’ but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘jackals,’ Isaiah 13:22; Isaiah 34:13; Isaiah 35:7 , Job 30:29 , Psalms 44:19 , Jeremiah 10:22; Jeremiah 49:33 . (2) tannôth , AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dragons,’ but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘jackals,’ Malachi 1:3 . See Jackal. (3) tannîm (sing.), ‘dragon,’ Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 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 Genesis 1:21 and Job 7:12 ‘ sea monster(s) ’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘whale(s)’); Aaron’s rod became a tannîn ( Exodus 7:9-12 , EV [Note: English Version.] serpent [wh. see, §11]). The same term, tannîn , is also applied metaphorically to Pharaoh ( Psalms 74:13 , Isaiah 51:9; and thus perhaps refers to the crocodile), and to Nebuchadnezzar ( Jeremiah 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 Revelation 12:3 ff. is certainly of this nature.
E. W. G. Masterman.