Cockatrice

The mediaeval name (a corruption of "crocodile") of a fabulous serpent supposed to be produced from a cock's egg. It is generally supposed to denote the cerastes, or "horned viper," a very poisonous serpent about a foot long. Others think it to be the yellow viper (Daboia xanthina), one of the most dangerous vipers, from its size and its nocturnal habits (Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer. 8:17; in all which the Revised Version renders the Hebrew tziph'oni by "basilisk"). In Prov. 23:32 the Hebrew tzeph'a is rendered both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version by "adder;" margin of Revised Version "basilisk," and of Authorized Version "cockatrice."

צפען, or צפעי, Proverbs xxiii, 32; Isaiah xi, 8; xiv, 29; lix, 5; Jer. viii, 17. A venomous serpent. The original Hebrew word has been variously rendered, the _aspic_, the _regulus_, the _hydra_, the _hemorhoos_, the _viper_, and the _cerastes_. In Isaiah xi, 8, this serpent is evidently intended for a proportionate advance in malignity beyond the _peten_ which precedes it; and in xiv, 29, it must mean a worse kind of serpent than the _nahash_. In lix, 5, it is referred to as oviparous. In Jer. viii, 17, Dr. Blayney, after Aquila, retains the rendering of basilisk. Bochart, who thinks it to be the regulus or basilisk, says that it may be so denominated by an onomatopœia from its hissing; and accordingly it is hence called in Latin _sibilus_, “the hisser.” So the Arabic _saphaa_ signifies “flatu adurere,” [to scorch with a blast.] The Chaldee paraphrast, the Syriac, and the Arabic, render it the _hurman_ or _horman_; which rabbi Selomo on Gen. xlix, 17, declares to be the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews: “_Hurman vocatur species, cujus morsus est insanabilis. Is est Hebræis_ tziphoni, _et Chaldaicè dicitur_ hurman, _quia omnia facit_ חרם _vastationem; id est, quia omnia vastat, et ad internecionem destruit._” [The species is called _hurman_, whose bite is incurable. It is the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews, and is called in Chaldee _hurman_, because it makes all things חרם--a waste; that is, because it lays waste and utterly destroys every thing.]