Bible dictionaries

Arcturus

What Bible dictionaries say about “Arcturus”, one article after the other.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Arcturus - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

Bear-keeper, the name given by the ancients to the brightest star in the constellation Bootes. In the Authorized Version (Job 9:9; 38:32) it is the rendering of the Hebrew word 'ash, which probably designates the constellation the Great Bear. This word (ash) is supposed to be derived from an Arabic word meaning night-watcher, because the Great Bear always revolves about the pole, and to our nothern hemisphere never sets.

Arcturus - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

ARCTU'RUS, n. [Gr. a bear, and tail.] A fixed star of the first magnitude, in the constellation of Bootes.

Matthew George Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

The article in Easton + Webster 1828

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE 1915)

ark-tu'-rus: The "Plough" or "Charles's Wain" is intended. See ASTRONOMY, sec. II, 13.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia — James Orr, general editor and contributors; CrossWire SWORD module ISBE 2.2

The article in ISBE 1915

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

(bear-keeper). The Hebrew words Ash and Aish , rendered "Arcturus" in the Authorized Version of (Job 9:9; 38:32) in conformity with the Vulgate of the former passages are now generally believed to be identical, and to represent the constellation Ursa Major, known commonly as the Great Bear or Charles Wain.

William Smith; revised by F. N. Peloubet and M. A. Peloubet; CrossWire SWORD module Smith 1.3

The article in Smith