CHAMELEON AV so renders nb Ic/lilh, xafnat-
\4ui',chnmdfun, the second of the lizards mentioned in Lv 11*', which RV renders land-crocodile. On the other liand, RV renders by rlmmeleon the last of the animals mentioned in this passage, nrij'jB tin.ihemcth, d<nrdXo|, talpri, wliich AV renders mole.
The Ileb. ki'ifth is used in many passages in its etymological sense of strenqtk, but only in the present for an animal. Nothing in its etymolo'ry points to the chnmcleon. Among the lizards the land-monitor, which is the lana-rrocodile of the indents, rsiimmosnurus scincn.i, Merrem. is next to the Nile-monitor, Monitor Nilotu-us, GeoU'r., in size and strength. The Arabs call both waral (vulgo warnn). They distinguish the first as tvarnl el-nrrl=the land-warnl, and the second as MHiral el-hiihr = ivater-warnl. But the first is also called dabb = 2i zdb, wliich is the name of the last animal in tlie previous verse, translated in AV tortiiiie, an<l in RV fjrcnt lizard. It often attains a length of from 4 to 5 ft. It would there- fore be better to render ?<16, land-crocodile or land- •>OL. I. — 24
monitor, and kS^k, Nile-monitor or water-monitor. This would carry out the etymological idea of strength, as the water-monitor is a foot or twc longer than its land relative, and Arabian stories are full of the records of its power in fighting, not only snakes, but the dabb itself. This would give to two of the lizard group appropriate specific names. Both are noted for devouring crocodile's eggs. The Nile-monitor was held in great reverence in ancient Egj'pt on this account.
As before said, RV gives c/uimeleon for tin- shemeth (Lv 11^). While it is perhaps probable that this animal is a lizard, as its name stands at the end of a list of lizards, it is by no means certain. It is also at the end of a list of things 'that creep upon the earth' (11^). In those days there was no scientific study of objects of Nature, and the collocation of the diilerent clean and unclean animals was with reference to char- acteristics which are not recognised in any other system of classification (ll''"'-'"-^). It is quite possible, therefore, that tinshemeth is not a lizard, out the mole-rat of Syria, Spalax typhlus, which, although not a true mole, has all its habits and its general aspect. The LXX and Vulg. renderings strengthen this possibility. There is, however, one strong objection to rendering tinshemcth ' mole- rat.' It is that holed (Lv ll^*) tr. in both VSS (on the authority of the LXX 7a\^, and Vulg. mustela), weasel, very probably refers to the mole-rat. See MOLK, Wkasel. It is inadmissible to suppose that the same animal is mentioned twice, by diilerent names, so close together in tlie same list.
There seems to be no warrant for the adoption of chameleun for tinshemcth, excepting the deriva- tion of the word from a root signifying to breathe, coupled with the ancient opinion that the chameleon lived on air. It must not be forgotten that, in the same chapter, tinsliemeth is given as the name of an aquatic fowl (v.'», cf. Dt 14'"). See Swan. On the whole, we think the question of the identity of both tinshcnieths very unsatisfactory, and well- nigh insoluble. G. E. Post.
CHAMOIS (n^J zem^r, ito/t7;XoirdpSaXis, camelo- pardus). — This was one of the wild animals allowed to the Israelites as food (Dt 14°), and therefore presumably acce.ssible to them. This would make impossible the renderings cnmelopnrd and chamois. Tristram establishes a very strong probability that it is the mountain - sheep of Egypt and Arabia, called in N. Africa aoudad, and in Arabia ^eisA, which signifies a ram. It is known to naturalists as Ovis traijdfiphus, and lives in small llodxs in the most rugged mountain dis- tricts from Bai'bary to Egypt. The kehsh of Sinai is probably identical with it, thougli as yet no naturalist lias seen it. The Bedawln know it well It may well be supposed that it was abundant in the Mo.saic age, and, as it was allowed to the Israelites for food, they may have done muih toward its extinction in tliose parts. It is more than 3 ft. in height, has no inane, but long hair down its throat and breast, and on the fore-legs, forming a sort of rutlles to the knee. It is very active, bounding from rock to rock. It has massive bonis, 2 ft. in length, and curving gently backward. G. E. Post.
CHAMPAIGN means 'an open plain' (from Lat. Campania, It. rampntjna, old l'"r. rhampai^;nc\ It occurs Dt 11*° (in Kill ihampiiin, a later form wliidi was introduce<l in the oeg. of I6tli lunt.) 'the Cnnannites, which dwell in the c' (^Jiv, RV ' Arabah ') ; Ezk 37'"° (1611 chinnpian, a still latev form), and .Ith 5' 'in the c. countries' (^i- roU irtJiois, RV 'in the plains'). The word is pron. iham'pdn. J. HASTINGS.
370
CHAMPION
CHAPEL
CHAMPION (from late Lat. campio, one who fights in the campus or opon plain) is an accurate tr. of the Heb. in 1 S IT*- ^ (D-jgrru-K, lit. 'the man of the space between,' that is, the space between the two armies, which is called in Gr. the nrralx- fuof). But in 17" Goliath is simply called ' mighty one ' (112?), and the ' champion ' of AV and R V is unhappy. J. HASTINGS.