Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs , Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, , [1994], 8476, I. תַּ֫חַשׁ S8476, 8477 TWOT2503 GK9391, 9392 n.m. taḫaš, a kind of leather or skin, and perhaps the animal yielding it (prob. the dugong, cf. Arabic تُخَسٌ (tuḫasun) dolphin, Thes 1500 Di-Ry Ex 25:5 PostHastDB BADGER; Assyrian taḫšu (Dl Baer Ezech. xvi), for which DlProl. 77 ff.; HWB 705 conj. meaning sheep(skin); Bondi Egyptiaca Bäd Bädekers Egypt; Onk Targum of Onkelos. Ry V. Ryssel. Dl Friedrich Delitzsch. Dl Friedrich Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? Bondi J. H. Bondi, Hebr. Lehnwörter in Hieroglyphischen Texten.
1 ff. cp. Egypt. t ḥś, leather; v. summary of views MLean-ShipleyEncy. Bib. BADGERSSKINS);abs. ת׳ Nu 4:6+, תָּחַשׁ v 8+; pl. תְּחָשִׁים Ex 25:5+;leather usedfor (womans) sandals Ez 16:10; elsewhere for cover of tabernacle Nu 4:25, עוֹר ת׳ v6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, עֹרֹת (הַ)תְּחָשִׁים Ex 25:5; 26:14; 35:7, 23; 36:19;39:34 (all P).
- - , Algemeen, , blue processed skins (Rabbi Yehudah, Yerushalmi, Shabbath 2:3; Arukh s.v. Teynun; Koheleth Rabbah 1:9; Josephus 3:6:1, 3:6:4; Septuagint; Aquilla). Tachash
in Hebrew. Others have 'black leather' (Saadia; Ibn Janach), that is,
leather worked in such a manner as to come out dark and waterproof
(Avraham ben HaRambam). In ancient Egyptian, tachash also denotes a kind of specially worked leather. See Ezekiel 16:10. Other sources identify tachash as a species of animal. Some say that it is the ermine (Rabbi Nechemia, Yerushalmi, loc. cit.; Arukh, s.v. glaksinon. The word galy axeinon
denotes the ermine, a member of the weasel family imported by the
Axenoi (see Jastrow). Others state that it is a member of the badger
family (Rashi on Ezekiel 16:10).
Others say that it is a colorful one-horned animal known as a keresh (Yerushalmi, loc. cit., Shabbath 28b; Tanchuma 6; Rashi; cf. Chullin
59b). Some say that this is a species of wild ram (Ralbag), possibly an
antelope, okape or giraffe. Some see the one-horned creature as the
narwhal (Mondon monoceros) which has its left tooth developed
into a single long horn-like appendage. This animal, which can grow to
be over 16 feet long, is occasionally found on the southern Sinai
shores.
In Arabic, tukhush denotes the sea cow or dugong (Dugong hempirchi) an aquatic mammal which is found on the shores of the Sinai. Some thus say that the tachash
is a type of seal, since its skins were used for the tabernacle's roof,
and sealskins were often used for this purpose (cf. Pliny 2:56).
- - , Algemeen, , Australian Museum Online, Factsheet Dugong (Dugong dugong)
- - , Algemeen, , Andis Kaulins, Ancient Egypt Blog, Hebrew tahas and Ancient Egyptian ths , [19 september 2005]
Encyclopedie , The Catholic Encyclopedia,, BADGER, BADGER. -- No mention of the badger (meles taxus) is found in the D.V., whereas the A.V. regularly gives it as the English equivalent for táhásh. The skin of the táhásh
is repeatedly spoken of as used for the outer cover of the tabernacle
and the several pieces of its furniture. The old translations, and the
D.V. after them, understood the word táhásh to mean a color
(violet; Ex., xxv, 5; xxvi, 14; xxxv, 7, 23; xxxvi, 19; Num., iv, 10,
25; Ezech., xvi, 10); but this is a misrepresentation; so also is the
rendering of the A.V.; for though the badger is common in Palestine,
yet the Hebrew name most probably indicates the dugong (halicore hemprichii or halicore tabernaculi),
a very large species of the seal family living in the Red Sea, the skin
of which is used to the present day for such purposes as those alluded
to in the Bible.