#etymology

Exploring the Origins of Behemoth's Meaning

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  • Prompt: The Hebrew word behemoth has the same form as the plural of the Hebrew noun בהמה behemah meaning 'beast', suggesting an augmentative meaning 'great beast'. However, some theorize that the word might originate from an Egyptian word of the form pꜣ jḥ mw 'the water-ox' meaning 'hippopotamus', altered by folk etymology in Hebrew to resemble behemah.[1] However, this phrase with this meaning is unattested at any stage of Egyptian.[2] Even before the decipherment of Ancient Egyptian in the early 19th century there was widespread identification of the biblical behemoth with the hippopotamus. The word for hippopotamus in Russian remains derivative of behemoth (бегемот), a meaning that entered the language in the mid-18th century.[3][4]
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