ARAN

a'-ran ('aran, "wild goat"): A son of Dishan, the Horite (Genesis 36:28; 1 Chronicles 1:42). It may possibly be connected with the Yerahmelite Oren ('-ren) (1 Chronicles 2:25; compare Curtis, Chron. at the place; Dillmann, Gen at the place; ZDMG, L, 168); Robertson Smith claims that this name is equivalent to the Samaritan ('-r-n), "wild goat" (Jour. Phil., IX, 90). J. Jacobs translates it by "ass" (Stud. Biblical Arch., 71). This is one of the many totem names in the Bible. More than one-third of the Horites, the descendants of Seir, bear animal names, and those clans of the Edomites connected with the Horites also have animal names. The very name "Self" means a "he-goat," and Dishan, "a gazelle" (Stud. Biblical Arch., 70-72). Gray, however, remarks that "the instance (Aran) is most uncertain" (HPN, 108).

Samuel Cohon

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.