Tortoise

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Tsab . From Tsaabab "to move slowly" ( Leviticus 11:29); rather "the great lizard." Septuagint translated "the land crocodile": mentioned by Herodotus iv. 192; the Varan , of the desert; it subsists on beetles, etc.; of a dusky yellow color, with dark green spots and yellow claws; the Waran El Hard , the Ρsammosaurus Scincus or Μonitor Terrestris of Cuvier. Arabic Dhab , a lizard often two feet long, abounding in Egypt and Syria. Tristram makes it the Uromastix Spinipes (Nat. Hist., 255). Its flesh dried was used as a charm or medicine; the Arabs made broth of its flesh (Hasselquist, 220); the Syrians ate its flesh (Jerome adv. Jovin. ii. 7, 334). Several kinds of tortoise (marsh tortoises, etc.) abound in Palestine. Some have even conjectured that "the tortoise" is meant by the word translated "bittern" in the prophecies of Isaiah and Zephaniah. (See Bittern .)

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) Same as Testudo, 2.

(2): ( n.) having a color like that of a tortoise's shell, black with white and orange spots; - used mostly to describe cats of that color.

(3): ( n.) Any one of numerous species of reptiles of the order Testudinata.

(4): ( n.) a tortoise-shell cat.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Tortoise. (Hebrew, 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.

King James Dictionary

Tortoise n. tor'tis. from L. tortus, twisted.

1. An animal of the genus Testudo, covered with a shell or crust. 2. In the military art, a defense used by the ancients, formed by the troops arranging themselves in close order and placing their bucklers over their heads, making a cover resembling a tortoise-shell.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

TORTOISE ( tsâb ,   Leviticus 11:29 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘great lizard’). Several kinds of land and water tortoises are common in the Holy Land, but here the reference is probably to some kind of lizard. See Lizard.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

tsab. One of the unclean animals. The Hebrew word is supposed to refer to a lizard, but to what species is not known: perhaps the dhab of the Arabs, a large lizard. The R.V. has 'great lizard.' The tortoise, however, is common in Palestine.  Leviticus 11:29 .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:29 . The Hebrew word rather denotes a species of lizard, so named in the original for its slowness of motion.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:29 Dhabb

Holman Bible Dictionary

Animals

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

tôr´tus , tôr´tis , tôr´tois . (the King James Version) ( צב , cābh , the Revised Version (British and American) "great lizard"; compare the Arabic word, ḍabb , the thorny-tailed lizard): The word cābh occurs as the name of an animal only in   Leviticus 11:29 , being the third in the list of unclean "creeping things."

The same word is found in  Isaiah 66:20 , translated "litters," and in  Numbers 7:3 , where ‛eghlōth cābh is translated "covered wagons." Gesenius derives the word, in all senses, from the root cābhabh , "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‛ḳad min dhanab uḍ - ḍabb , "knottier than the tail of the ḍabb ." The Septuagint has for cābh in  Leviticus 11:29 ὁ κροκόδειλος ὁ χερσαῖος , ho krokódeilos ho chersaı́os , 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," kōaḥ , the King James Version "chameleon."

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. See Lizard .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Tortoise'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/t/tortoise.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.