‘Behemoth’
The behemoth is a mysterious animal mentioned in the Book of Job. With bones ‘like bars of iron’ and a tail ‘like a cedar,’ this mighty beast was said to be able to suck the whole River Jordan into its mouth. Biblical scholars have long debated whether the behemoth is a mythical creature or just an exaggerated description of an ordinary animal (the most popular candidate is a hippopotamus). This is what English words would look like without classical origins.
Whatever the original ‘behemoth’ may have been, the name has become a metaphor for anything that reaches spectacular size. This figurative use is first recorded in a pamphlet of 1593, written by Gabriel Harvey as part of his vicious literary feud with Thomas Nashe. Nashe, writes Harvey, is ‘a Behemoth of conceit,’ but ‘a shrimp in wit, a periwinkle in art, a dandiprat in industry,’ and ‘a dodkin in value.’
