צפען, or צפעי, Proverbs xxiii, 32; Isaiah xi, 8; xiv, 29;
lix, 5; Jer. viii, 17. A venomous serpent. The original Hebrew word has
been variously rendered, the _aspic_, the _regulus_, the _hydra_, the
_hemorhoos_, the _viper_, and the _cerastes_. In Isaiah xi, 8, this
serpent is evidently intended for a proportionate advance in malignity
beyond the _peten_ which precedes it; and in xiv, 29, it must mean a
worse kind of serpent than the _nahash_. In lix, 5, it is referred to as
oviparous. In Jer. viii, 17, Dr. Blayney, after Aquila, retains the
rendering of basilisk. Bochart, who thinks it to be the regulus or
basilisk, says that it may be so denominated by an onomatopœia from
its hissing; and accordingly it is hence called in Latin _sibilus_, “the
hisser.” So the Arabic _saphaa_ signifies “flatu adurere,” [to scorch
with a blast.] The Chaldee paraphrast, the Syriac, and the Arabic,
render it the _hurman_ or _horman_; which rabbi Selomo on Gen. xlix, 17,
declares to be the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews: “_Hurman vocatur species,
cujus morsus est insanabilis. Is est Hebræis_ tziphoni, _et Chaldaicè
dicitur_ hurman, _quia omnia facit_ חרם _vastationem; id est, quia omnia
vastat, et ad internecionem destruit._” [The species is called _hurman_,
whose bite is incurable. It is the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews, and is
called in Chaldee _hurman_, because it makes all things חרם--a waste;
that is, because it lays waste and utterly destroys every thing.]
lix, 5; Jer. viii, 17. A venomous serpent. The original Hebrew word has
been variously rendered, the _aspic_, the _regulus_, the _hydra_, the
_hemorhoos_, the _viper_, and the _cerastes_. In Isaiah xi, 8, this
serpent is evidently intended for a proportionate advance in malignity
beyond the _peten_ which precedes it; and in xiv, 29, it must mean a
worse kind of serpent than the _nahash_. In lix, 5, it is referred to as
oviparous. In Jer. viii, 17, Dr. Blayney, after Aquila, retains the
rendering of basilisk. Bochart, who thinks it to be the regulus or
basilisk, says that it may be so denominated by an onomatopœia from
its hissing; and accordingly it is hence called in Latin _sibilus_, “the
hisser.” So the Arabic _saphaa_ signifies “flatu adurere,” [to scorch
with a blast.] The Chaldee paraphrast, the Syriac, and the Arabic,
render it the _hurman_ or _horman_; which rabbi Selomo on Gen. xlix, 17,
declares to be the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews: “_Hurman vocatur species,
cujus morsus est insanabilis. Is est Hebræis_ tziphoni, _et Chaldaicè
dicitur_ hurman, _quia omnia facit_ חרם _vastationem; id est, quia omnia
vastat, et ad internecionem destruit._” [The species is called _hurman_,
whose bite is incurable. It is the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews, and is
called in Chaldee _hurman_, because it makes all things חרם--a waste;
that is, because it lays waste and utterly destroys every thing.]