Hallo Winston, 

 ->> behemoth: 1. a mighty animal described in Job 40:15_24 as an example of
 ->> the power of God 

 WS>      Might it also be the Babylonian monster "Tiamat" ? 
If the "Habiru"
 WS> can come out as the "Hebrews", then perhaps
"Tiamat" could come out as
 WS> "Behemoth" (I notice the middle 'M' and the ending 'T')
when going from
 WS> one type of accent to another?  Well, it is a thought....

I haven't the slightest idea. Behemoth is cited as something superior yet
humble. Commentators think it is a river horse, or maybe an elephant (less
likely).

 >>Marduk was granted the leadership of the pantheon as well as the 
 >> "kingship over the universe entire" as a reward for avenging the 
 >> gods by defeating Tiamat, the savage and defiant goddess of chaos, 
 >> and her monstrous host. Following his victory, Marduk fashioned 
 >> heaven and earth, arranged and regulated the planets and stars, 
 >> and created the human race. 

... and all in a days work too, probably . 

 >> Another kind of cosmogonic myth is the world-parent myth. In the 
 >> Babylonian creation story Enuma elish, the world parents, Apsu 
 >> and Tiamat, bear off-spring who later find themselves opposed 
 >> to the parents. The off-spring defeat the parents in a battle, 
 >> and from the immolated body of Tiamat the world is created. 

 >> the goddess Tiamat, a dragonlike personification of the oceans, 
 >> who headed the hordes of  chaos...

While I dare not speculate about word origins, make up your own mind from
the above citations from Infopedia 2.0 .

I think this is of very doubtful topicality, so let us stop this now.

Ostrhauderfehn, 15. November 1998, 12:29:32

*Klaus Meinhard*


--- WP/95 Rel 1.4 (190.0) Reg.