In the report for 1865 we read, "The attention of the Madras Auxiliary is now directed to a version of the Tamil Old Test., on the same principles as have led to the successful completion of the New Test, under the editorial superintendence of the Rev. H. Bower." The completion of this version was announced in 18G9. In 1873 we read that Mr. Bower has been appointed to pre- pare the marginal references and alternative renderings for the Tamil Bible. Up to March 31. 1879, the British and Foreign Bible Society had disposed of 1,876,950 copies of the Tamil Bible, while of the Tamil with Eng- lish 32,000 were distributed. See Masch, Bibliotheca Sacra, ii, 197 sq. ; the Bible of Ecery Land; and the Annual Reports of the British and Foreign Bible Soci- :ety. (B. P.)
Tam'muz (Heb. with the article hat-Tammuz', tlHpri. the Tamnivz, as if originally an appellative; Sept. 6 Tajijioiil,), a name of great obscurity, which oc- curs but once in the Scriptures. In the sixth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, in the sixth month and on the fifth day of the month, the prophet Ezekiel, as he sat in his house surrounded by the elders of Judah, was transported in spirit to the far-distant Temjde at Jeru- salem. The hand of the Lord God was upon him, and led him "to the door of the gate of the liouse of Jeho- vah, which was towards the north ; and behold there tiie women sitting, weeping for the Tamnuiz" (F.zek. viii, 14). Some translate the last clause (TIsritlTN m25'?) "causing the Tammuz to weep," and the infiuence which this rendering has upon the interpretation will be seen hereafter.
1. Eti/mnlof/ical Sifimficafion of the Word. — If 1^12T\ be a regularly formed Hebrew word, it must be derived either from a root T"C3 or T"cn (comp. the forms r]^"SX;, I'lStl), which is not known to exist. To remedy this defect, Furst {Handwh. s. v.) invents a root, to which he gives the signification "to be strong, mighty, victori-
ous," and, transitively, " to overpower, annihilate." It is to be regretted that this lexicographer cannot be con- tented to confess his ignorance of what is unknown. Rodiger (in Gesenius, Thesuur. s. v.) suggests the deri- vation from the root DD'0 = n'2; according to which T'lSlPl is a contraction of tlTTaPl, and signifies a melting- away, dissolution, departure, and so the cKficnuafiog 'ASw- viSoc, or disappearance of Adonis, which was mourned by the Phoenician women, and, after them, by the Greeks. But the etymology is unsound, and is evi- dently contrived so as to connect the name Tammuz with the general tradition regarding it, Mllhlau (new ed. of Gesenius's Lex.) refers to Delitzsch's elucidation {Stud. z. semit. Reli/jionsffesch. i, 35, 300 sq.) from the Baby louico- Assyrian form Ltilzu (for Dumuzi), signify- ing "sprouting of life."
2. Old Literpretdtiom.—The ancient versions supply us with no help. The Sept., the Targum of Jonathan ben-Uzziel, the Peshito-Syriac, and the Arabic in Wal- ton's Polyglot merely reproduce the Hebrew word. In the Targum of Jonathan on Gen. viii, 5, " the tenth month" is translated "the month Tammuz." Accord- ing to Castell {Lex. Ilept.), tamuz is used in Arabic to denote "the heat of summer;" and Tamuzi is the name given to the Pharaoh who cruelly treated the Israelites.
The Vulg. alone gives Adonis as a modern equiva- lent, and this rendering has been eagerly adopted by subsequent commentators with but few exceptions. It is at least as old, therefore, as Jerome, and the fact of his having adopted it shows that it must have embod- ied the most credible tradition. In his note upon the passage he adds that since, according to the Gentile fable, Adonis had been slain in the month of June, the Syrians give the name of Tammuz to this month, when they celebrate to him an anniversary solemnity, in which he is lamented bj' the women as dead, and, after- wards coming to life again, is celebrated with songs and praises. In another passage {ad Paulinum, in Opp, i, 102, ed. Basil. 1565) he laments that Bethlehem was overshadowed by a grove of Tammuz, that is, of Adonis, and that "in the cave where the infant Christ once cried, the lover of Venus was bewailed." Cyril of Alex- andria {in Oseam, in Opp. iii, 79, ed. Paris, 1 638) and The- odoret {in Ezech.) give the same explajiation, and are followed by the author of the Chronicon Paschale. The only exception to this uniformity is in the Syriac trans- lation of Melito's Apology, edited by Dr. Cureton in his Spicileffiuin Syriamm. The date of the translation is unknown; the original, if genuine, must belong to the 2d century. The following is a literal rendering of the Syriac: "The sons of Phoenicia worshipped Balthi, the queen of Cyprus. For she loved Tamuzo. the son of Cuthar, the king of the Phcenicians, and forsook her kingdom and came and dwelt in Gebal, a fortress of the Phcenicians. And at that time she made all the vil- lages (not Cyprians, as Dr. Cureton translates) subject to Cuthar the king. For, before Tamuzo, she had loved Ares and committed adultery with him, and Hephaes- tus, her husband, caught her and was jealous of her. And he (i.e. Ares) came and slew Tamuzo on Lebanon while he made a hunting among the wild boars. And from that time Balthi remained in Gebal, and died in the city of Aphaca, where Tamuzo was buried" (p. 25 of the Syriac text). We have here very clearly the Greek legend of Adonis reproduced with a single change of name. Whether this change is due to the translator, as is not improbable, or whether he found "Tammuz" in the original of Melito, it is impossible to say. Be this as it may, the tradition embodied in the passage quoted is probably as valuable as that in the same au- thor which regards Serapis as the deification of Joseph. The Syriac lexicographer Bar-Bahlul (10th century) gives the legend as it had come down to his time. "Tomuzo was, as they say, a hunter, shepherd, and chaser of wild beasts; who, when Belathi loved him, took her away from her husband. And when her hus-