TUBALCAIN (Hebr. Túbhal qájin, Septuagint Θοβέλ καὶ ἦν). — Lamech (v.), in the fifth generation descended from Cain. He “sharpened (that is, began the art of sharpening) every instrument of copper and iron” (Gen. 4:22): a detail within the broader process of the formation of material civilization, attributed to the Cainites. The Babylonian traditions likewise speak of the antediluvian origins of metalworking (fragment “When Anu created heaven” in H. Gressmann, Altor. Texte, Berlin–Leipzig 1926, p. 129).
The double Hebrew name is noteworthy; some critics regard the second part, -qájin, as secondary.