Arcturus (Hastings' Dictionary)

A star of the first magnitude in the constellation Bootes or the Herdman. Arcturus is the rendering of AV for ^S, 'Ask, Job 9^, and >-":-: 'Ayish, Job'3832. The identification of 'Ash, 'Ayish, has formed subject for wide conjecture. Versions : LXX "Eairfpiv in both places (agreeing with Pesh. in placing ■■^5"?, UKiLdSa, before ^% in 9^) ; Pesh. ]Za.lL 'lyijRthd of doubtful meaning, explained by Arabic Lexx. as Capella Aurig;e, but placed in Taurus; Vulg.

9' Arcturum (whence AV), 38-'- Vesperum ; Targ. 9^ transliterates, 38^2 ' the hen with her chickens,' i.e. the Pleiades ; Sa'adya, v^jUj (jijlj, i.e. Ursa Major. In the Talm. Berachoth 586, R. Yehuda explains 'Ash as npi' Yvtha, and later Talmudists interpret this as ' the tail of the Kam,' i.e. Pleiades, or 'the head of the Bull,' i.e. Aldebarau with the Hyades. Ibn Ezra, ' the Bear.' Among moderns there are two main explanations. 1. The great Bear or Wain; Ges., Del., RV, etc.

With the Arabs the four stars of this group which form the quadrilateral are known as Na'sh ' the bier,' the three stars of the tail being ' the daughters of the bier,' a phrase which resembles that of Job 38»- ''Ayish with her children.' It is, however, impossible philologically to identify the root of Arab. Na'sh with Heb. 'Ash, and still more so with 'Ayish. 2. The Pleiades ; Stern in Geiger's Jiid. Zeitschr. iii. 258 ff. ; Hoffmann, ZATW. iii. 107 f. ; Noldeke.

Stern points out that Job 38-"'* deals with weather phenomena, and that therefore the constellations mentioned vv.^'- ^- appear to be regarded as marking or intiuenclng the changes of the seasons. Shice the Bear is visible in the N. hemisphere throughout the year, it could scarcely be thought of as a season prognosticator. Thus Job 38'-" is rendered, 'Alcyone with her children,' i.e.

the principal star of the Pleiades group with its companions, the other constellations mentioned being interpreted as the Hyades, Orion, and Canis Major with Sirius. We then have allusion to four groups regarded by the Greeks as signs of the seasons, and rising in close succession one upon another. The form 'Ayish is thought to be correct (so Dillmann) rather "than 'Ash, and Hoffmann vocalises 'AyyUsh, thus connecting with Pesh. 'lyyutha. C. F. BURNEV.