Some Bird Names in the Judeo-Persian

Translations of the Hebrew Bible

JES

P.

AsMUSSEN

Jn this mticle, I continue my studies of lexical points in judeo-Persian. This contribution is concerned with names of birds.

Birds are often mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, both generally as 'birds'
(cop, Judea-Persian mury; !jippor [!jippor], Judea-Persian parande) and
specifically by their individual names (eagle, owl, and so on).
Highly interesting is the Judea-Persian simury for neser 'eagle', indicating that simury is not the mythological phoenix but the real eagle,
aquila. 1 Also remarkable is the use of fiiwus (tii{Jfis) 'peacock', a loanword
from Greek Taiiic;, for cayif 'bird of prey'. 2 The "real" peacock occurs
only twice in the Bible, in I Kgs 10:22 and 2 Chr 9:21, in the plural:
tii( u) kiyyim. Thus the Agron, the fifteenth-century Hebrew-Judea-Persian
dictionary, has tvkyym = fiiwos. 3 The Judea-Persian translation, 4 although
it does not always reflect genuine tradition, has fiios hii (1 Kgs 10:22).
The Judea-Persian bird names listed below are taken from the Vatican Judea-Persian Pentateuch (Vat.), 5 the British Museum Judea-Persian
Pentateuch (BM), 6 and the Judea-Persian translation of Job. 7
1.]. P. Asmussen, "Simury in Judea-Persian Translations of the Hebrew Bible," Acta
Imnica 30 (1990) 1-5.
2.]. P. Asmussen, "Ornithologisches aus den jiidisch-persischen Ubersetzungen der
hebraischen Bibel," in Corolla Iranica (Papers in honor of David Neil MacKenzie; ed. R. E.
Emmerick and D. Weber; Frankfurt am Main, 1991) 1-2.
3. W. Bacher, "Ein hebraisch-persisches Worterbuch aus dem 15. Jahrhundert," ZAW 16
(1896) 218.
4. Published by the British and Foreign Bible Society (London, 1905).
5. H. H. Paper, "The Vatican Judea-Persian Pentateuch: Genesis," Ac0r28 (1964-65)
268-340; idem, "The Vatican Judea-Persian Pentateuch: Exodus and Leviticus," AcOr 29/
1-2 (1965) 75-181; idem, "The Vatican Judea-Persian Pentateuch: Deuteronomy," AcOr 31
(1968) 55-113.
6. H. H. Paper, Ajudeo-Persian Pentateuch: The Text of the Oldestjudeo-Persian Pe11/a/euch
Tm11slatio11 British Museum Ms. 01: 5446 (Jerusalem, 1972). Quite a number of texts, up to
Lev 11 :20, are missing.
7. H. H. Paper, Ajudeo-Persian Boole ofjob (The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Proceedings 5112; Jerusalem, 1976).

Jes P. Asmussen

1. coreb 'raven'. Vat. Gen 8:7, Lev 11:15: br:Jy. 8 Vat. Deut 14:14, however, has byr:;y, where BM has kFg. The Judeo-Persian Job 38:41 gives
br:;y (Middle Persian varag) but has qyFy in the margin. This is New Persian kalay, q(k)elay, kulay 'raven' or 'crow', at any rate a bird of the corvus
family. 9
2. peres 'ossifrage'. Vat. Lev 11:13, Deut 14:12 krks; BM Deut 14:12
k1gs: karkas, kmgas; Middle Persian karkas, kmgas 'vulture' . 10
3. cozniyya 'osprey'. Vat. Lev 11:13 and Deut 14:12 cvq:;b: cuqab
'eagle'. 11 The BM Deut 14:12 translates mvsgyr: musgir 'a bird of prey of
genus Accipiter'. 12
4. da:Ja 'vulture'. Vat. Lev 11:14 :Jazah: alah 'eagle'. 13
5. :Jayya 'vulture, kite, hawk'. Vat. Lev 11:14 Uzeyan: uzeyan, that is,
zayan 'vulture' or 'kite' . 14 The Judeo-Persian form seems to confirm
Henning's suggestion: ''A Persian word for 'vulture' of possibly Eastern
Iranian origin is zayan (for *zyan): Saka uysgana, vulture 15 (Saka -ys- =
-z-). The Vat. Deut 14:13 has :;lh for :;ayya and is thus in agreement with
Job 28:7: aluh. 16 The BM Deut 14:13 has hvm:;y, humai, "der sagenhafte
Vogel Phonix; ein koniglicher Adler-ein Pelikan." 17
6. ra:;a, Deut 14:13 is apparently a mistake for da:;a. The BM text
leaves the word untranslated (hr:;h), whereas the Vat. text has xvd:;vnd pr,
xudavand-i par 'lord of the wing'!?
7. bat hayyacana 'daughter of the desert', ostrich. In the Judeo-Persian translations :Jvstr, stvr mvry: ustur, utur mury. 18
8. talJ,mas, Lev 11:16 and Deut 14:15, an unclean bird, difficult to
identify (owl, swallow, cuckoo?). Vat. Lev 11: 18 has msk/lrh; Vat. Deut
14:15 mvsk/lrh: musxVar 'eagle, kite'?? 19 BM Deut 14:15 gives b:Jz, baz 'falcon, hawk'. 20

8. P. Horn, "Zu den jiidisch-persischen Bibeliibersetzungen," Indo-germanisc/1e Forsclmngen 2 (1893) 138.

9. U. Schapka, Die persischen Vogelnamen (Ph.D. diss., Wiirzburg, 1972) 218ff.
10. Ibid., 212.
11. Ibid., 170-71.
12. Ibid., 270.
13. Ibid., 8-9.
14. Ibid., 109.
15. W. B. Henning, "Sogdian Loan-Words in New Persian," BSOAS 10 (1940-42) 97 n. 2,
with further references.
16. Schapka, Die persischen Vogelnamen, 8.
17. Ibid., 283-84.
18. Ibid., 154.
19. Ibid., 270.
20. Ibid., 13-14.

Some Bird Names in the Judea-Persian Translations of the Hebrew Bible

9. tinsemet, Lev 11:18, Deut 14:16, according to old tradition an owl

species. Vat. Lev 11:18 and Deut 14:16 prstvr: parrastii(k) 'swallow'? 21
BM Deut 14:16 hvd hvd, hudhud 'hoopoe'. 22

10. siiliik, Lev 11: 17, Deut 14: 17, probably 'pelican'. Vat. Lev 11: 17
lyly: laylay (laklak, laglag, laqlaq) 23 'stork'; Vat. Deut 14:17 kF' m:Jhy: kasii
miihi 'fish catcher'; BM Deut 14:17 lglg.
21. Ibid., 36-37.
22. Ibid., 280-81.
23. Ibid., 242.