Aran in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

a'-ran ('aran, "wild goat"): A son of Dishan, the Horite (Gen 36:28; 1 Ch 1:42). It may possibly be connected with the Yerahmelite Oren ('-ren) (1 Ch 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