Togarmah

תגרמה


The name appears in Genesis 10:3 and 1 Chronicles 1:6, both of which tell us that he was a son of Gomer (גומר) and a grandson of Yaphet (יפת); and that his brothers were Riphat (רִיפַת) and Ashkenaz - some Yehudit versions give the first of those as 
Diphat (דִיפַת), a similar error to Dodanim and Rodanim elsewhere.

Ezekiel 27:14 speaks of Beit Togarmah (בֵּית תּוֹגַרְמָה) as one of Yisra-El's trading partners; "they traded for your wares with horses and horsemen and mules".

Ezekiel 38:6, prophesying the downfall of Gog Magog, includes among the armies that of Gomer and Beit Togarmah, "in the uttermost parts of the north".

They were probably the Cymmerians, who later became the Cymry and Cumbrians of Britain, and abounded in horses and mules. The Armenians regard Torgom, son of Gomer as their ancestor, which does rather add some weight to the speculation. Mag, incidentally, becomes softened to Mac when the language reaches Brython. Thus Gog Magog is really "Gog son of Og", just as Hamish MacDougall is Hamish son of Douglas. Probably, though, this came from the Scythians, who spoke the same Hittite-source language.


Copyright © 2019 David Prashker

All rights reserved
The Argaman Press


No comments:

Post a Comment