I. Name

Liwyātān is the Heb. name of a mythical monster associated with the Sea (or Yam). First attested in a Ugaritic text (KTU 1.5 i:1 || 27) where it occurs as ltn (to be vocalized lı̄tānu, as convincingly argued by Emerton 1982), the name is related to a root lwy. Etymologically it might be interpreted either as ‘the twisting one’ (cf. Arab. lawiyā) or ‘the wreath-like’, ‘the circular’ (cf. Heb. liwyâ), both possibilities pointing to an original concept of Leviathan as a snake-like being.…