Owl (Hastings' Dictionary)

Five Heb. words are translated ‘owl’ in AV. 1. ayn nz bath-hayya'dnah, RV ‘ostrich’ (see Nigut Hawk, OstRICH). 2. wy yanshiiph (Lv 1127, Dt 14"), ‘great ov ’; wp yanshdph (Is 34"), ‘owl,’ RVm ‘bittern.’ In all the LXX gives εἶβις and Vulg. isis. The passage in Isaiah gives a considerable list of creatures, some fabulous, others uncertain, but all supposed to suggest desolation and ruin. Yanshéph is one of these.

It is a strong objection to the ibis that it is a swamp bird, hardly to be thought of in con- nexion with an accursed and forsaken ruin. Yet the same is true of the bittern, the cormorant, and the pelican (RV text and AV margin) in the same passage. We may therefore accept iis, in spite of this difficulty, or tr. the word ‘twilight bird,’ in allusion to its etymology,* leaving the question of species unsettled.

This tr® would emphasize the esolation and evil omen, which it is the object of the writer to portray. 8. via kés. ere again we have a word occurrin ταῖν in the lists of unclean birds (Ly 11}7, Dt 14}5, AV and RV ‘little owl’), and in one other reference (Ps 1028 AV and RV ‘owl’), where the psalmist compares himself to‘an owl of the desert’ (RV ‘waste places’). The owl is called by the Arabs umm al-khardb, i.e. ‘mother of ruins,’ trom the fact that it frequents such places.

The LXX νυκτικόραξ (Lv 112’, Ps 102°) confirms the tr® ‘owl,’ which is to be taken generically. Among the owls of Pal. and Syria are Asio Otus, L., the long-eared owl; A. brachyotus, J. R. Forster, the short-eared owl; and Bubo ascalaphus, Sav., the Egyptian eagle owl. LXX ἃ késin Dt 14" by ἐρωδιόν, Vulg. herodium. ἃ, 122 kippéz. This word occurs but once (Is 344). The LXX ἐχῖνος implies the reading 7\sp kippédh, which AY tr. ‘ bittern,’ RV ‘ porcupine’ (see BITTERN).

As the bittern or porcupine has already been mentioned in the list of creatures in the ruins of Edom (v.") we must reject this. Norcan we accept the RV rendering arrowsnake (adopted by Ges., Dillm., Siegfried-Stade, Cheyne, ete., following Bochart, Hieroz. iii. 199), a kind of snake that leaps from trees on passers-by (Gr. dxorrlas), from Arab. kafazd, ‘to leap.’ The description is clearly that of a bird. No snake lays, incubates, : ἐποΐος and gathers its young under its shadow.

’ The fact that some owls specially frequent ruins makes it probable that, though there is no positive authority in its favour, some species of owl is in- tended. Scops giu, Scop., and Athene glaua, Sav., are dwellers in caves, ruins, and desolate places, and would suit the context. 5. πο lilith, is also found in but one psa (Is 344), AV tr. it ‘screech owl,’ m. ‘night monster’; RV ‘night monster,’ m. ‘Lilith.’ The etymology pants to a nocturnal creature. It is robably fabulous.

The unearthly hootings and mings of the nocturnal birds about ruins and in lonely wastes would easily suggest to the imaginative Oriental mind such spectres. The LXX évoxévravpos refers to some unknown ape, or an apparition. The /amia of the Vulg. is a hag or mitak who does harm to children. See, further, art. LILITH. The gAil of the Arabs is a fabulous spectre, which haunts graveyards, and lives on human flesh (see NIGHT MONSTER).

It will be seen from the above analysis that three out of the five words tr’ ‘owl’ in AV prob- ably do not refer to owls. The other two are generic. The Arab. bdm expresses, as a tone word, the cry of some of the owls, The Arabs are super- stitious in regard to all the species, and look upon them as emblems of evil. G. E. Post. * From Ay} ‘ twilight’ (so Bochart, Hieroz, |i, 231%.) Others derive from ἡ ‘ wheeze.’, , , .. _ thaur, 638 OX PADDAN