Roebuck
This word, wherever it occurs in AV (Dt 12'o-23 14» 15, , 1 K 4-«), is the equivalent of "J? zebi, LXX SopKo.^. RV has in all these pas- sages consistently tr^ zlbi ' gazelle ' (see Gazelle). ' Roebuck ' is the proper tr" for •VDniyahinicr, wliich is rendered by AV ' fallow deer' (Dt 14", 1 K 4^). Tristram [Fautia and Flora, p. 4) says that yahmur is used by the natives of Carmel for the roebuck, which is still found there.
One of the districts of Carmel is known as Yahm&r, perhaps from the former abundance of this animal. Conder says that the roebuck is called hamur in Gilead. The people about I^dna and 'Alma, north of Carmel, call it wa'l, which is one of the names of the ibex or wild goat, which animal, however, is not now found there. In N. Africa yahmur is synonymous with bakar el-ivafish, Alcephalus bu- balus, Pall.
From these facts two things are evident — (1) That 'fallow deer' is not a correct tr° of yahmur. The fallow deer is S;!< 'nyyal (see Hart). The first three animals of the list (Dt 14') are 'ayydl, correctly tr'' in both AV and RV ' hart ' ; zebi, AV incorrectly ' roebuck,' RV correctly ' gazelle ' ; and yahmur, AV incorrectly ' fallow deer,' RV correctly, as we believe, 'roebuck.'
The LXX (B) gives us no help, as it has only (Xaipos and SopKds, the equivalents of 'ayydl and zSbi, and drops out yahmur from the lists. (2) That bubale (LXX AF ^oi)/3aXos), as proposed by some, is also not a correct tr" for yahmur. The bubale is not now found west of the Jordan, and only rarely east of it. The roebuck is found in considerable numbers on both sides of this river. The bubale is not called yahmur where found on the confines of Palestine.
The roebuck is so called both east and west of the Jordan. It is most numerous in the thickets, in the wadis of Carmel and N. W. Galilee. The roebuck, Cermis capreolus, L., is shaped like a gazelle. Its full length is 3 ft. 10 in. from the tip of the nose to the end of the rump ; height at shoulder 2 ft. 4 in., at rump 2 ft. 6 in. The horns are about as long as the face, on a line with it, and have three short branches. The eyes are almond- shaped, with point forward. There is no external tail.
The coccyx is 2 in. long, but is covered by the rump fat. The colour is grey, with a reddish- bro^\'n shade towards the posterior part of the rump, and white between the thighs and on the belly. (See figure of a specimen in PEFSt, July 1890, p. 171). G. E. Post.