Unicorn: Described as an animal of great ferocity and strength
(Numbers 23:22) R.V.,
"wild ox," marg., "ox-antelope;"
(Numbers 24:8; Isaiah 34:7) R.V., "wild oxen",
and untamable
(Job 39:9) It was in reality a two-horned animal; but
the exact reference of the word so rendered (reem) is doubtful. Some
have supposed it to be the buffalo; others, the white antelope,
called by the Arabs rim. Most probably, however, the word denotes the
Bos primigenius ("primitive ox"), which is now extinct all over the
world. This was the auerochs of the Germans, and the urus described
by Caesar (Gal. Bel., vi.28) as inhabiting the Hercynian forest. The
word thus rendered has been found in an Assyrian inscription written
over the wild ox or bison, which some also suppose to be the animal
intended (comp.)
(Deuteronomy 33:17; Psalms 22:21; 29:6; 92:10)
