Bible Dictionary
NEESING
Neesing is an old English word meaning sneezing or snorting. In Job 41:18 it describes the vapor or spray issuing from the nostrils of leviathan, understood in the passage as the crocodile.
Definition
Neesing is an obsolete English expression related to sneezing or snorting. In Job, the underlying term occurs only once, and its precise force cannot be determined with certainty. The description concerns vapor or moisture discharged from the nostrils of leviathan.
Biblical Usage
In Job 41:18, “neesings” describes the sparkling vapor issuing from leviathan’s nostrils. The passage is part of the description of leviathan, understood in the entry as the crocodile. An older translation also uses “neesed” for a child’s sneezing.
Historical Background
The Elizabethan word “neese” could mean either sneeze or snort. The entry regards “snort” as the more suitable description of the crocodile’s discharge of moist, heated vapor, and rejects an allusion to legendary fire-spouting monsters.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ne'-zing (Job 41:18, the King James Version, the English Revised Version "by his neesings a light doth shine," the American Standard Revised Version "sneezings"): "Neese" in Elizabethan English (through two distinct derivations) could mean either "sneeze" or "snort," and it is impossible to say which force was intended by the King James Version editors. The Hebrew is `aTishah, a word found only here, but connected with a Semitic root meaning "sneeze," or, perhaps, "snort." Job 41:18 is part of the description of the "leviathan" or crocodile. This animal has a habit of inflating himself, and after this he discharges through his nostrils the moist, heated vapor, which sparkles in the sunlight. The act is neither a "sneeze" nor a "snort," but the latter word is sufficiently descriptive. There is no allusion to legendary "fire-spouting" monsters. Compare Job 39:20; Jer 8:16.</p><p>In the older editions of the King James Version "neesed" is found in 2Ki 4:35: "and the child neesed seven times" (later editions and the Revised Version (British and American) "sneezed").</p><p>Burton Scott Easton</p>