Neesing
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [1]
Neesing The vb. ‘to neese’ (mod. ‘sneeze’) occurs in the 1611 ed. of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] at 2 Kings 4:35 ,’ the child neesed seven times.’ But the ‘neesing’ ( Job 41:18 ) of leviathan (the crocodile) means hard breathing, snorting, and does not come from the same A.S. verb as ‘neese’ meaning ‘to sneeze.’
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary [2]
Translated sneezing in 2 Kings 4:35; used in Job 41:18 to describe the violent breathing of the enraged leviathan, or crocodile.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): ( p. pr. & vb. n.) of Neese
(2): ( n.) Sneezing.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
nē´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 עטישׁה , ‛ăṭı̄shāh , 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; Jeremiah 8:16 .
In the older editions of the King James Version "neesed" is found in 2 Kings 4:35 : "and the child neesed seven times" (later editions and the Revised Version (British and American) "sneezed").
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
(an obsolete word for sneezing) is found only in Job 41:10, as a rendering of עֲטַישָׁה , Atishah' (which occurs only there), from an otherwise unused root signifying To Sneeze (q.v.).
