TUBALCAIN (Hebrew Túbhal qájin, Septuagint 60§£x xal 7v). — Son of Lamech (q.v.), a descendant in the fifth generation of Cain. He «sharpened (i.e., began the art of sharpening) every tool of copper and iron» (Gen. 4:22): a detail in the complex of material civilization attributed to the Cainites. The antediluvian origins of metalworking are also spoken of in Babylonian traditions (fragment «When Anu created the sky» in H. Gressmann, Altor. Texte, Berlin-Leipzig 1926, p. 129).
Singular is the double Hebrew name, in which some critics consider the second part «qájin» to be secondary.