Dragon's and Serpents

Ken Cone, CAMM <cammoftville@gmail.com>	12/7/12
to theokronos888

ALONG WITH GEMINID METEOR SHOWER AND PHATEOM, THE DRAGON COME THE FOLLOWING CONNECTION 

Florida tackling python problem with hunting contest

By Kim Segal, CNN

updated 4:07 PM EST, Fri December 7, 2012

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/us/florida-python-hunt/?hpt=us_c1

The two traditions may have evolved separately, but have influenced each other to a certain extent, particularly with the cross-cultural contact of recent centuries. The English word "dragon" derives from Greek δράκων (drákōn), "dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake".^[1]

The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latindraconem (nominative draco) meaning "huge serpent, dragon," from the Greek word δράκων, drakon (genitive drakontos, δράκοντος) "serpent, giant seafish". The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, and this usage was also current in English up to the 18th century.

Jewish

In Jewish religious texts, the first mention of a dragon-like creature is in the Biblical works of Job (26:13), and Isaiah (27:1) where it is called Nachash Bare'ach, or a "Pole Serpent".^[12] This is identified in the Midrash Rabba to Genesis 1:21 as Leviathan from the wordTaninim (תנינים) "and God created the great sea-monsters."^[13] In modern Hebrew the word Taninim is used for Crocodiles but this is a 20th century usage unconnected with the original Biblical meaning.^{[citation needed]}

In later Biblical texts, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Job, and Psalm 89 refer to a sea-demon called Rahab (not to be confused withRahab, the woman of Jericho mentioned in the Book of Joshua). Isaiah 51:9 equates this Rahab with a dragon or monster. "Rahab" is the English transliteration of רהב (reb) with the several meanings: pride, a mythical sea-monster, or Egypt (as an emblematic name).^[14] In the Douay-Rheims version, translated via Medieval Latin from the Vulgate, the wordreb is rendered "the proud one" in Isaiah 51:9 and Job 26:12 and "the power of the sea" in Psalm 88:10 (Psalm 88 is equivalent to Psalm 89 in other versions due to different verse numbering in the Vulgate). The connection between the sea-monster and "Leviathan the serpent" is made in Isaiah 27:1.^[15]

In Jewish astronomy this is also identified with the North Pole, the star Thuban which, around 4,500 years ago, was the star in the Draco constellation's "tail".^[12] However this can also have been either the celestial pole or the ecliptic pole. The ancient observers noted that Draco was at the top of the celestial pole, giving the appearance that stars were "hanging" from it, and in Hebrew it is referred to as Teli, from talah (תלה) – to hang.^[16] Hebrew writers from Arabic-speaking locations identified the Teli as Al Jaz'har, which is a Persian word for a "knot" or a "node" because of the intersection of the inclination of the orbit of a planet from the elliptic that forms two such nodes. In modern astronomy these are called the ascending node and the descending node, but in medieval astronomy they were referred to as "dragon's head" and "dragon's tail".^[17]

The Merthyr Synagogue features a dragon on the front gable.^[18]

The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latindraconem (nominative draco) meaning "huge serpent, dragon," from the Greek word δράκων, drakon (genitive drakontos, δράκοντος) "serpent, giant seafish". The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, and this usage was also current in English up to the 18th century.

Ken Cone	5:20 AM (18 minutes ago)
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