The Word Crocodile is of Armenian Origin and This is Important…

It is believed that the word Crocodile is borrowed into English from the Greek language - κροκόδειλος (krokodeilos), although the absence of the Greek ending-ος (-os) makes us think that taking over into English and into other languages as well was most likely descended from Latin.

However, we need to know where in fact the word has come from and whether those are right who think the word crocodile comes from the addition of Greek κρόκη (krokē) "pebbles" and δρῖλος (drilos) "earthworm" (dr > d by dissimilation). It is assumed that crocodile is named a pebble worm because of the similarity of crocodiles’s scales with pebbles.

Judging by the views of Herodotus and Aristotle, even in the IV century BC for the entire Greek world this animal remained a kind of gimmick more like a mythical monster than a real creature. Aristotle writes that a crocodile lays 60 eggs and incubates them for 60 days and Herodotus reports that the crocodile is blind in water, sees well on land and his mouth is full of leeches. 

Moreover, Herodotus is the only one who gives us information about the origin of the word crocodile-

“The name of crocodiles was given them by the Ionians, who remarked their resemblance to the lizards, which in Ionia live in the walls and are called crocodiles.»

(κροκοδείλους δὲ Ἴωνες ὠνόμασαν, εἰκάζοντες αὐτῶν τὰ παρὰ εἴδεα τοῖσι σφίσι γινομένοισι κροκοδείλοισι τοῖσι ἐν τῇσι αἱμασιῇσι.).

There are just assumptions. What if Herodotus’s understanding of linguistics is as much reliable as his idea of a crocodile?
We are ready to accept the fact that crocodile’s leather is similar to pebbles but according to Herodotus it turns out that the word κροκόδειλος was used by Ionians and they used it with the reference to living on their fences lizards. And after seeing the Nile crocodile and comparing it to the well-known lizards κροκόδειλος they started calling them both with the same word.

But then apparently logical at a first glance version of comparing crocodile’s leather with pebbles is falling apart. If we could have agreed with this version then now we can not agree that Ionians called lizards crocodiles κροκόδειλος as their leather looked like pebbles since this is not really so.

Consequently wrong is either Herodotus or the authors of the hypothesis that the word crocodile comes from the addition of Greek κρόκη (krokē) pebbles and δρῖλος drilos earthworm. But at least, Herodotus was a native speaker and as a native speaker he says that in other dialects of ancient Greek this word was absent. What if Ionians themselves had borrowed the word?

Over and over again we see that when in any logical construction such a confusion occurs then the problem solution is elsewhere..

In Aramaic Octopus is called tamnun from tmane "eight" + nun "water creature" and it moved over into Hebrew . In Hebrew the woodpecker is called nakar from the verb lenaker "to peck, to peck with the beak." There are many examples like that and in all of them the reference to characteristics of animals is obvious.

Well, let's assume Herodotus was mistaken in attributing the origin of the word to the Ionians and let's say that the word did not occur in a particular dialect but in Greek itself.

But agree, you need to have a very strange imagination to see a worm in a crocodile. The worms’ characteristic feature is the absence of extremities which the ancient Greeks also must have noticed no matter how ancient they were.

As we well know the passion of ancient Greeks to the science and to define all the things as accurately as possible it is hard to believe that they could have associated crocodiles with worms.

Guess that crocodile was named a pebble worm because of the similarity of its scales to pebbles on one hand looks quite appropriate but on the other hand it is strange to assume such an identification when the animal has much more prominent features. Well, at least teeth or huge jaws, weren’t they worth of attention?  

Incidentally Jews noticed crocodile's teeth and in Hebrew tanin "crocodile" comes from the word šen 'tooth' [1] . Egyptians identified rage in crocodile and that's why the word crocodile in Egyptian was pronounced as Ad, which also meant fury[2]

Egyptians who deified the crocodile under the name of Sebek drew attention to its throat. In his book "The ancient Egyptian God Sebek" Volkov I.M. writes:

"…along with such epithets of Sebek as "beautiful" it is also a "terrible throat"[3].

*

I wonder what do Armenian linguists think of it? The answer is: nothing…

Here is a quote from the most authoritative Armenian linguist H. Acharyan where he explains the methodology of compiling his dictionary:

"Suffice to say that Arm. kokordilos is a taking over from Greek κρόκօδῖλος but the origin of this Greek word (=κρόκη-δρῖλος "stone worm") is not our business..."[4]

That's actually is how Armenologists look at the problem . And this setting is kept so far because H. Acharyan apart from his own will of a true scientist who would not speak of sinlessness in general and their own in particular was elevated to the rank of a Saint[5].

Meanwhile Acharyan himself does not adhere to said. For example, when he says that the word šat (շատ) "lot, full" is of Iranian origin he forgets that now according to his own statement there is no need to find the origin back as the word has already been declared Iranian. He was forced to seek the evidence and arguments in favor of his claim. The situation with arm. šat submitted by Acharyan is on the verge of comical but it is worth to devote a separate article.

Here we are only stating a fact which everyone can see by reading information about the origin of this word in the Acharyan's dictionary.

Just the way he talked about the Iranian origin of arm.word šat he was obliged to reason on the arm. word kokordilos “crocodile” and not to make decrees which he himself will not adhere to.  

The mummy of a crocodile as the incarnation of God Sebek. Egypt

Thus, contrary to the assertions of H. Acharyan any Armenologist must investigate the origin of each word even if there is an initial confidence that this word is a taking over into Armenian from another language and even if the word is a real adoption. The science will certainly not suffer in this case. But back to our crocodile...

It turns out in Armenia they knew the Egyptian cult of the God in the image of a crocodile Sebek. And it is detected through the presence in Armenian language of the word sabaq (sabak) "cross-netting, adornment in the likeness of the grid"[6]

Soon I will show the link but for now note that Acharyan as the source for a given word indicates the Jewish שְּׂבָכָה (sәbākā) with the same meanings as in Armenian as well as Arabic شبكة (šabaka) "network; a door or window in the shape of a grid" so he consideres the word of Semitic origin.)

However according to the Acharyan the adoption of this Semitic word into Armenian happened not even directly but indirectly. As if this word was first borrowed into Greek and used in Septuaginta[7] in fragment IV Kings 25:17:

«ὀκτωκαίδεκα πήχεων ὕψος τοῦ στύλου τοῦ ἑνός καὶ τὸ χωθαρ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τὸ χαλκοῦν καὶ τὸ ὕψος τοῦ χωθαρ τριῶν πήχεων σαβαχα καὶ ῥοαὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ χωθαρ κύκλῳ τὰ πάντα χαλκᾶ καὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ τῷ στύλῳ τῷ δευτέρῳ ἐπὶ τῷ σαβαχα»

«Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.»

and later with the translation of the Bible into the Armenian language this word was transcribed[8] and in this form appeared in Armenian

"Յութուտասն կանգնոյ բարձրութիւն միոյ սեանն. և քովթար պղնձի ի վերայ նորա. և բարձրութիւն միոյ քովթարայ՝ յերից կանգնոց. և սաբակ, և նռնաձևք ի վերայ քովթարայն շուրջանակի ամենայն պղնձի. ըստ նմին օրինակի և սեանն երկրորդի ի վերայ սաբաքին"

Indeed in this passage for the word "grid" in the Greek translation the word σαβαχα is used and moreover in the Tanakh in the same place is שְּׂבָכָה (sәbākā) but there is a strange circumstance...

In the Bible, the word "grid"in different variations is found 117 times: a grid (44), by a grid (17), of grids (5), grids(34), mesh (3) about meshes (2) to a mesh (1) meshes (10) by a mesh (1). But only in one mentioned above fragment IV from Kings 25:17 both in Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew translations the word sabak is used twice (սաբաք-սաբակ; σαβαχα; שְּׂבָכָה). To verify this I had to sacrifice already heavily lined eyes and obviously I got the expected result. Still it is interesting! Isn't it? What's the mystery ?

In fact this is not a Semitic word as Acharyan suggested but an ancient Egyptian name of the crocodile God Sebek who according to Egyptian mythology was the inventor of grids. Here is what mentioned above Volkov I.M. writes on this subject,:

"In the hymn to Sebek (Middle Kingdom) we indeed find in the Annex the epithet nb hb a"master of the bird and fishing". Moreover, Sebek sometimes himself acts as a divine fisherman. The fishing equipment - a net was mentioned in a mythological episode where Sebek appeared just as the fisherman although in relation not to fishes but to the sons of Horus - Hapy and Amsatou. As the book tells God Ra gave the assignment to Sebek to catch Horus’s sons that occurred in the water and were hiding there: "Let them bring Sebek the Lord of swamp country to catch them into a net for he could find them... Then Sebek the Lord of swamp country said: "I was looking for them and found them (floundering?) under my fingers on the waterfront. I caught them with a net! That is when the net appeared"[9]".

That's why Armenians, Greeks, Jews and perhaps all the inhabitants of the Ancient East called woven into a mesh necklace by the name of Sebek - սաբաք-սաբակ sabak-sabak σαβαχα; שְּׂבָכָה.

And the reason was also that the Egyptians were famous for their jewelry craftsmanship.

"High skill in the manufacturing of beads, — wrote K. R. Williams, is one of the greatest contributions of Egypt in the development of the ancient jewelry art. There were no other people who would appreciate the beads that much and showed so much art and ingenuity in their selection as the ancient Egyptians did[10]."

And indeed I must admit that the massive Egyptian Sebeki (so they should be called even nowadays) are extremely elegant, light and airy in appearance unlike most similar products made by contemporary jewelers that look very heavy. Those who wear them sometimes are worth of our compassion. But let's not digress.

Thus, we have shown and proved the fallacy of H. Acharyan’s representation regarding Semitic origin of arm. sabak (սաբաք-սաբակ). He is either wrong about the arm. kokordilos “crocodile”.

After having passed the entire digression which I hope was both interesting and necessary as well let us go back to the word "crocodile". Remember not only all the hard scheme on the basis of which it was tried to prove the Greek origin of the word and not only the efforts of H. Acharyan to "save" us from the crocodile but also Volkov’s remark that among the epithets of the Egyptian God crocodile Sebek there was a"terrible throat".

I think after all said you are not going to be surprised very much to find out that the word "throat" sounds in Armenian as kokord (կոկորդ) and according to H. Acharyan the word is of native Armenian origin.

All we have left is to remember that in the Armenian language there is a root til (տիլ) “dirt; muddy water” from which the present-day.arm. tilm (տիղմ) "silt,mud,swamp,dirt" has derivated [11] and it is also an original Armenian word.

In the Armenian language t is very often pronounced as a d and Vice versa, for e.g. the article d is pronounced as a voiceless consonant for e.g.written hayrd (հայրդ) "your father" is pronounced as hayrt (հայրտ).

Hence, there is the original Armenian kokordil (կոկորդիլ) "crocodile" without the Greek ending –os (-օս) and this is the form of the word that is found in early medieval Armenian historians works.

Form with the Greek ending - kokordilos (կոկորդիլոս) is a proof of the great influence of Greek in the Hellenistic period and arbitrariness of later copyists.

Thus, the word "crocodile" is of Armenian origin and means "dirty throat" or "throat of a swamp" which is the main glaring characteristic of a crocodile with which as we have seen Egyptians themselves agreed.

From Armenian kokordil (կոկորդիլ) were adopted Greek and Latin forms and right about now it is not so important to know whether Greek or Armenian adoption occurred in Latin although there are similar examples suggesting that the borrowing from Armenian to Latin happened without any mediation. But we'll talk about that later...

P.S.

Why is it so important? Because this is a small fragment of a huge puzzle without which the puzzle can not be collected. And those fragments are plenty. Acharyan’s errors as well as his predecessors’ and his followers’ ones consist mainly in the fact that basing upon the migration theory of Armenian origin they stuck to the bare comparative analysis of the Armenian language with the relation to languages of neighboring peoples not really going deep into details taking into account historical, philosophical, mythological and other components of any language especially Armenian.

Arman Revazian ©

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 [1] In the Semitic languages there are related words, where t corresponds to s, e.g. Hebrew..

[2] Does the Egyptian Ad "rage; crocodile" have any  relation to Rus. Ад - Hell, “underworld”. It certainly has. It is believed that this word came into Russian from old Slavonic Aдъ, which in its turn was borrowed from the ancient Greek ᾅδης "hell, the underworld". However,  a problem occurs with the further definition of  Greek ᾅδης origin itself. There is an assumption that the source of it is the reconstructed archaic *άϝιδας "invisible" and there are no ideas on proto-Indo-European basis of a given word.

In my opinion, this "nuisance" is associated with the fact that actually Greek ᾅδης comes from the Egyptian– Ad "crocodile". Besides, a big question is -  was Адъ an adoption into old Church Slavonic from the ancient Greek word for Hell or had it been happening any other way? An example with the words "Scorpio" and "cursive", which I cited in my book Makarac  makes it strongly doubtful.

 [3] Volkov I.M "The ancient Egyptian God Sebek". Petrograd. Printing House of Russian Academy of Sciences.1917.

[4] Acharyan.H. The root dictionary of the Armenian language. Volume1, p. 12

6] Acharyan.H. The root dictionary of the Armenian language. Tom.4. p. 151

[7] Septuagint - a collection of translations of the old Testament into the Greek language made in III—I centuries BC in Alexandria.

[8] Transcription (lat. transcriptio — rewriting). Transmission of the sounds of foreign language words (usually proper names, geographic names, scientific terms) using the letters of their own alphabet.

[9] E. Naville, Das ägyptische... Todtenbuch, cap. 113, 4-7 (Aa).

[10] C. R. Williams, Gold and Silver Jewelry and Related Objects, p. 9

[11] տիղմ: Acharyan.H. The root dictionary of the Armenian language.