Arabian Night-Heron.
OWL
499
OX
The barn-owl is still sacred in Northern
White Owl.
3. Kippoz (fiSBp, "great owl," Isa. xxxiv, 15) has been variously supposed to designate the hedge-hog, otter, osprey, bittern, and owl. Gesenius {TJiesaur. p. 1226), with Bochart, deriving the word from the root TEp, kuphaz', to draio together, to contract, thinks it to be a species of serpent, Seipens jaculus, i. e. the arrow- snake, so called from its darting, springing, in the man- ner of the rattlesnake. But as the text evidently speaks of the habits of a bird, we may perhaps acquiesce in the translation owl. There are noticed in Egypt and Syria three well-known species of the genus Strix, or owl: Strix bubo, "the great-eared owl;" Strix Jlam- mea, the common barn-owl ; and Strix passei-ina, the little owl. In this list Strix otus, the long-eared owl, Strix bruchyotus or iilula, the short-eared owl, known nearly over the whole earth, and Strix orientalis of Hasselquist, are not included, and several other species of these wandering birds, both of African and Asiatic regions, occur in Palestine. The eagle-owl, or great- eared owl, Strix bubo, we do not find in ornithological works as an inhabitant of Syria, though no doubt it is an occasional winter visitant; and the smaller species, Bubo Atheniensis of Gmelin, which may be a rare but permanent resident, probably also visiting Egypt. It is not, however, we believe, that species, but the Otus ascalaphus of Cuvier, which is common in Egypt, and
Otus Ascalajihus.
which in all probability is the type of the innumerable representations of an cared owl in hieroglyphical in- scriptions. . This may be the species noticed under the indefinite name of kippoz,
4. Yaanah' (nDy;;i, Lev. xi, 16; Dent, xiv, 15; Job XXX, 29; Isa. xiii/2'l ; xxxiv, 13; xliii, 20; Jer. iv, 39; Mic. i, 8), the ostkich (q. v.).
5. TMith (Pi'i?"'?, Isa. xxxiv, 14), "screech-owl," but better in the margin nigiit-monster (q. v.).
Ox ("Qs, Vulg. Idox), given (Judith viii, 1) as the son of Joseph, and father of Mereri, among the ances- tors of Judith (q. v.).
Ox, the different terms denoting this family, or part of it, in the A. "V. are the renderings of the following Hebrew words :
1. Abbir', "i^SX, is translated "bulls" in Psa. xxii, 12; 1, 13; Ixviii, 30; Isa. xxxiv, 7; Jer. 1, 11. This word is properly an adjective, derived from "I2N, to be strong, and means mighty ; hence transferred to the bull in allusion to his strength. But in Psa. Ixviii, 80 it should probably be rendered princes (see Gesenius, Thesaur. s. v. "i3X).
2. E'leph, v)5X, which occurs only in the plural, ala- phim', fiiS5N, derived from vj^N, to learn, in allusion to the domestic and docile disposition of the animal, and used in the common gender, including the whole family, like the English beeve — an ox or coiv. In Deut. vii. 13; xxviii, 4, 18, 51, it is translated kine; in Psa. viii, 7 ; Prov. xiv, 4 ; Isa. xxx, 24, oxen.
3. Alluph', ~^^X, also wTitten, defective^, ?|^X, is from the same root, in the same signification, but is used in the masculine gender only, grammatically, wliile including animals of both genders. It is found in this sense in Jer. xi, 19, rendered "ox," and in Psa. cxliv, 14, in the plural, " oxen;" but in Jer. xi, 19 the word is properly an adjective, tame, gentle, and the ren- dering should be, " I was like a tamed lamb,^' not, as in the English Version, " I was like a lamb or an oxT See Gesenius, Thesaur. s. v. C]5X.
4. Bahar', 1p3, in the common gender, a word for all oxen or neat cattle; genericaUy a herd. The word is derived from "Ip2, to cleave, to lay opien, in allusion to the use of the beast for ploughing (comp. Latin urmen- tum, from arare). This very general and very common word is usually rendered herd, hei'ds, as Gen. xiii, 5 ; Deut. xvi, 2 ; Hab. iii, 17 ; or oxen, as Gen. xii, 16 ; 1 Sam. xi, 7 ; Amos vi, 12. But two phrases deserve es- pecial notice, the ben-bakar, ^p3~"|3, son of the herd, or of a bull, which is translated calf, calves, in Gen. xviii, 7, 8; 1 Sam. xiv, 32; but bullock in Lev\ i, 5; Numb. XV, 8, 9; unA agam, par ben-bakar, *'p3~'ia ^Q, literally, an ox, son of the herd, which is rendered bul- lock, or young bullock, as Lev. iv, 3 ; xvi, 3 ; Ezek. xliii, 19, 23, 25, and often. See Cattle.
5. E'gel, PS", from an obsolete root, said to signify to roll (see Gesenius, Thesaur. s. v. ?33!), a calf, possi- bly from the idea of the embryo as 7-olled or wrapped to- gether; and so always translated, as Exod. xxxii, 4; Isa. xi, 6 ; Mai. iv, 2 ; except in Jer. xxxi, 18 ; xlvi, 21, where our English Version wrongl}^ has bullock, bul- locks. The feminine form, eglah', |^35^^ is also frequent, and is rightly rendered heifer, as Gen. xv, 9 ; Isa. xv, 5 ; but in Hos. x, 5 tlie English Version represents the plural by the word calves. See Calf ; Heifer.
6. Par, "iQ or ^2, probably from the root "I'lQ, to be borne, referring to the bearing of the yoke; but the word usually means a bull, young bullock, and is hence often referred to the root "I'lQ, in its more usual sense, to break, in allusion to the fierceness and violence of his anger. It is usually spoken of bullocks for sacrifice only, as Exod. xxiv, 5; Lev. iv, 3, 4, 5, 7; Numb, xxviii, 11, 19, and often; so Hos. xiv, 2, where the meaning is, " So will we offer our praise as victims," or sacrificial bullocks. But in Psa. xxii, 13 it means bulls, without reference to sacrifice. (See also No. 4 above.) See Bullock.