Category:Dagon

Da"gon, Etym: [Heb. Dagon, fr. dag a fish: cf. Gr. .]

Defn: The national god of the Philistines, represented with the face and hands and upper part of a man, and the tail of a fish. W. Smith. This day a solemn feast the people hold To Dagon, their sea idol. Milton. They brought it into the house of Dagon. 1 Samuel 5:2.

dagon Dag"on, n. Etym: [See Dag a loose end.]

Defn: A slip or piece. [Obs.] Chaucer.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Dagon - Little fish; diminutive from dag = a fish, the fish-god; the national god of the Philistines (Judges 16:23). This idol had the body of a fish with the head and hands of a man. It was an Assyrio-Babylonian deity, the worship of which was introduced among the Philistines through Chaldea. The most famous of the temples of Dagon were at Gaza (Judges 16:23) and Ashdod (1 Samuel 5:1). (See FISH.)