Bible Dictionary
Tortoise
The animal called the tortoise in older English Bibles is more likely the great lizard or thorny-tailed lizard. It was listed among the unclean creeping animals in Leviticus 11:29.
Definition
The animal called “tortoise” in older English versions was probably a large lizard, specifically the thorny-tailed lizard, rather than a modern tortoise. It was classified among the unclean creeping animals.
Biblical Usage
The animal appears in the list of unclean creeping things in Leviticus 11:29.
Historical Background
The Hebrew term is related to the Arabic dhab, identified with a large thorny-tailed lizard. The Septuagint rendered it “land crocodile,” while modern translations use “great lizard.”
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Heb. tsabh). Ranked among the unclean animals (Lev. 11:29). Land tortoises are common in Syria. The LXX. renders the word by “land crocodile.” The word, however, more probably denotes a lizard, called by the modern Arabs dhabb.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(Heb. tsab). The tsab occurs only in (Leviticus 11:29) as the name of some unclean animal. The Hebrew word may be identified with the kindred Arabic dhab, “a large kind of lizard,” which appears to be the Psommosaurus scincus of Cuvier.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>tor'-tus, tor'-tis, tor'-tois. (the King James Version) (tsabh, the Revised Version (British and American) "great lizard"; compare the Arabic word, dabb, the thorny-tailed lizard): The word tsabh occurs as the name of an animal only in Le 11:29, being the third in the list of unclean "creeping things."</p><p>The same word is found in Isa 66:20, translated "litters," and in Nu 7:3, where `eghloth tsabh is translated "covered wagons." Gesenius derives the word, in all senses, from the root cabhabh, "to move gently," "to flow"; compare Arabic dabba, "to flow." The Arabic noun dabb is Uromastix spinipes, the Arabian thorny-tailed lizard. This lizard is about 18 inches long, its relatively smooth body being terminated with a great tail armed with rings of spiny scales. The Arabs have a familiar proverb, 'a`kad min dhanab ud-dabb, "knottier than the tail of the dabb." The Septuagint has for tsabh in Le 11:29 ho krokodeilos ho chersaios, the English equivalent of which, "land-crocodile," is used by the Revised Version (British and American) for the fifth in the list of unclean "creeping things," koach, the King James Version "chameleon."</p><p>The writer does not know what can have led the translators of the King James Version to use here the word "tortoise." Assuming that the thorny-tailed lizard is meant, the "great lizard" of the Revised Version (British and American) may be considered to be a fair translation.</p><p>See LIZARD.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>