תחש (takhash) — unidentified Tabernacle animal; dachshund
Etymology
The word תחש appears in the Torah as the name of an animal whose hide was used to cover the roof of the Tabernacle (Mishkan): "Make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of takhash skins above that" (Exodus 26:14). No consensus on the animal's identity has ever been reached, making תחש one of the most debated zoological terms in the Hebrew Bible.
The earliest attempts at translation reveal the interpretive chaos. The Septuagint (Greek) rendered it as hyakinthon — the same word used for tekhelet (blue-violet dye) — suggesting the hides were simply colored rather than naming a specific animal. The Vulgate followed suit. The Aramaic targumim — Onkelos and Yonatan — used sasegona, meaning "deep red," indicating color rather than species. The Talmudic amora Rav Yosef bar Hiyya (3rd–4th century, Pumbedita) interpreted sasegona as "many-colored" (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 28), which introduced the Hebrew adjective sassegoni (multicolored) into the language. The Tanna Rabbi Meir (2nd century CE) offered a mythological answer: the takhash was a unique creature, neither beast nor domestic animal, that miraculously appeared for Moses, had a single horn on its forehead, served its purpose in building the Tabernacle, and then vanished — a unicorn-like creature.
Medieval translators took a more naturalistic approach. Rashi followed the Talmud in his Torah commentary but in his commentary on Ezekiel 16:10 wrote that takhash meant "giraffe" (tayson in Judeo-French). Martin Luther, in his 1534 German Bible translation, rendered takhash as Dachs (badger), based on phonetic similarity between the Hebrew and German words. The King James Bible followed Luther with "badger." Mendelssohn Mocher Sfarim (Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh) then cemented "badger" as the Hebrew meaning by translating takhash as badger in his Hebrew translation of Harald Lenz's natural history book — and from there the Dachshund (badger-hound) dog breed was first called kelev takhash in Hebrew, later shortened to just תחש.
In 1821, German explorer Eduard Rüppell discovered that Bedouins near the Gulf of Aqaba called various marine mammals dukhas and takhas and made sandals from their hides — a detail that resonated with Ezekiel's mention of takhash sandals. Based on this, zoologist Israel Aharoni proposed in the early 20th century applying the word takhash to the narwhal (one horn, matching Rabbi Meir's description), though narwhals live in the Arctic. He introduced גירית (from Arabic) for the badger, displacing takhash in that sense. In 1963 the Academy of the Hebrew Language officially designated תחש המשכן (Tabernacle takhash) for the dugong (Dugong dugon), a sea mammal inhabiting Sinai coastal waters; in 1972, תחש הנהרות (river takhash) was assigned to the manatee.
Key Quotes
"תחש שהיה בימי משה - בריה בפני עצמה היה, ולא הכריעו בה חכמים אם מין חיה הוא אם מין בהמה הוא, וקרן אחת היתה לו במצחו" — Rabbi Meir (via Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish), Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 28
"תחש: מין חיה, ולא היתה אלא לשעה והרבה גוונים היו לה" — Rashi, Commentary on Exodus 26:14
Timeline
- c. 1200 BCE: Word תחש appears in Torah (Exodus 26:14, Numbers 4) as Tabernacle covering material
- 3rd–4th century CE: Rav Yosef bar Hiyya derives "sassegoni" (multicolored) from the Aramaic translation of takhash
- 2nd century CE: Rabbi Meir describes takhash as a miraculous one-horned creature
- 1534: Martin Luther translates takhash as Dachs (badger) in his German Bible
- 1611: King James Bible follows with "badger"
- 1821: Eduard Rüppell documents Bedouin use of tukhas/dakhas for marine mammals near Aqaba
- c. 1860s–1880s: Mendele Mocher Sfarim establishes takhash = badger in Hebrew via natural history translation
- 1923: Israel Aharoni coins גירית for badger (from Arabic), displacing takhash in that role; takhash survives only as dog-breed name
- 1963: Academy of the Hebrew Language assigns תחש המשכן to the dugong (Dugong dugon)
- 1972: Academy assigns תחש הנהרות to the manatee (Manatee sp.)
Related Words
- ססגוני — multicolored; derived from the Aramaic translation of takhash
- גירית — badger; coined by Aharoni (1923) to replace takhash in that sense
- תחש המשכן — dugong; Academy designation (1963)
- תחש הנהרות — manatee; Academy designation (1972)