HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H604
אֲנָקָה
a.na.qah — gecko
1) an unclean animal, ferret, shrewmouse, gecko 1a) perhaps an extinct animal, exact meaning unknown
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Ferret
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.
Historical dictionary entry
Lev. 11:30 (R.V., “gecko”), one of the unclean creeping things. It was perhaps the Lacerta gecko which was intended by the Hebrew word (anakah, a cry, “mourning,” the creature which groans) here used, i.e., the “fan-footed” lizard, the gecko which makes a mournful wail. The LXX. translate it by a word meaning “shrew-mouse,” of which there are three species in Palestine. The Rabbinical writers regard it as the hedgehog. The translation of the Revised Version is to be preferred.
Scripture references
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.