[Avodah] Snake or Dragon?

[Michael Poppers]

In Avodah Digest V25#24, RWR wrote:
> When in Shemos (7:8-13) Moshe and Aharon appear before Paroah and Aharon
throws down his staff and it turns into a "Sanin" not "Nochosh." Could the
term
sanin refer to a dragon rather than the traditional snake?
The word sanin also appears in Bereshis (1:21), "taninim hagedolim.."
usually
translated as great sea giants. <
As you note from 1-1:21 (which reports the creation of sea and air
creatures in parallel to the plan as expressed in the previous verse), a
"tannin" would seem to be a water-based creature (RSRH ad loc. relates it
to the Chaldean word for "fish") -- see, inter alia, Y'sha'yahu 27:1,
Y'chezkeil 29:3 and 32:2 (which describe Par'oh! and NB that as per the
commentaries, "tannim"="tannin"), and T'hilim 74:13 (as per the
commentaries, describing the Egyptians).  Re Shmos 7's references, RSRH
translates "tannin" as crocodile, a large, water-based creature found in
the Nile (again, see Y'chezkeil 29:3).

All the best from
--Michael Poppers via RIM pager
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