HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H7994
שָׁלָךְ
sha.lakh — cormorant
1) bird of prey 1a) probably the cormorant
2 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
Cormorant
Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H6893
קָאַת
qa.at — pelican
1) a ceremonially unclean bird 1a) perhaps pelican or cormorant 1b) perhaps an extinct bird, exact meaning unknown
5 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →GREEK · G8164
λάρος
laros — gull
1. a ravenous sea-bird, perhaps a cormorant , described as dashing down into the sea and then floating on the waves, (Odyssey by Homer): metaphorically of demagogues, (Aristophanes Comicus) 2. a singing bird, [variant datesAnthology Palantina (ML)
0 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →Historical dictionary entry
(Lev. 11:17; Deut. 14:17), Heb. shalak, “plunging,” or “darting down,” (the Phalacrocorax carbo), ranked among the “unclean” birds; of the same family group as the pelican. It is a “plunging” bird, and is common on the coasts and the island seas of Palestine. Some think the Hebrew word should be rendered “gannet” (Sula bassana, “the solan goose”); others that it is the “tern” or “sea swallow,” which also frequents the coasts of Palestine as well as the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan valley during several months of the year. But there is no reason to depart from the ordinary rendering. In Isa. 34:11, Zeph. 2:14 (but in R.V., “pelican”) the Hebrew word rendered by this name is ka’ath. It is translated “pelican” (q.v.) in Ps. 102:6. The word literally means the “vomiter,” and the pelican is so called from its vomiting the shells and other things which it has voraciously swallowed. (See PELICAN.)
Scripture references
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.