t star
of the constellation, the one in the left knee, now generally known as
_Rigel_, is still occasionally called _Algebar_, a corruption of _Al
Jabb[=a]r_, though one of the fainter stars near it now bears that name.
The meaning in each case is "the giant," "the mighty one," "the great
warrior," and no doubt from the first formation of the constellations,
this, the most brilliant of all, was understood to set forth a warrior
armed for the battle. There were _gibb[=o]rim_ before the Flood; we are
told that after "the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and
they bare children to them, the same became mighty men (_gibb[=o]rim_)
which were of old, men of renown."

But according to Jewish tradition, this constellation was appropriated
to himself by a particular mighty man. We are told in Gen. x. that--

"Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one (_gibb[=o]r_)
in the earth."

and it is alleged that he, or his courtiers, in order to flatter him,
gave his name to this constellation, just as thousands of years later
the University of Leipzic proposed to call the belt stars of Orion,
_Stellae Napoleonis_, "the Constellation of Napoleon."[234:1]

There was at one time surprise felt, that, deeply as the name of Nimrod
had impressed itself upon Eastern tradition, his name, as such, was
"nowhere found in the extensive literature which has come down to us"
from Babylon. It is now considered that the word, Nimrod, is simply a
Hebrew variant of Merodach, "the well-known head of the Babylonian
pantheon." He was probably "the first king of Babylonia or the first
really great ruler of the country." It is significant, as Mr. T. G.
Pinches points out, in his _Old Testament in the Light of the Records
from Assyria and Babylonia_, that just as in Genesis it is stated that
"the beginning of his (Nimrod's) kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and
Accad, and Calneh," so Merodach is stated, in the cuneiform records, to
have built Babel and Erech and Niffer, which last is probably Calneh.
The Hebrew scribes would seem to have altered the name of Merodach in
two particulars: they dropped the last syllable, thus suggesting that
the name was derived from _Marad_, "the rebellious one"; and they
prefixed the syllable "Ni," just as "Nisroch" was written for "Assur."
"From a linguistic point of view, therefore, the identification of
Nimrod as a changed form of Merodach is fully justified."

[Illustration: ORION AND THE NEIGHBOUR