Deer

VIEW:44 DATA:01-04-2020

DEER.—See Fallow-deer, Hart.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Deer. See Fallow-Deer.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

dēr (איּל, 'ayyāl, feminine איּלה, 'ayyālāh, and איּלת, 'ayyeleth (compare Arabic, 'ayyāl and 'iyāl, ?deer? and איל, 'ayil, ?ram,? and Latin caper and capra, ?goat,? caprea, capreolus, ?wild goat,? ?chamois,? or ?roe deer?); יחמוּר, yaḥmūr (compare Arabic, yaḥmūr, ?deer?); יעלה, ya‛ălāh, feminine of יעל, yā‛ēl (compare Arabic, wa‛l, ?Pers wild goat?); צבי, cebhı̄, and feminine צביּה, cebhı̄yāh (compare Arabic, ẓabi and feminine ẓabı̄yah, ?gazelle?; עפר, ‛ōpher (compare Arabic, ghafr and ghufr, ?young of the mountain goat?)):
Of the words in the preceding list, the writer believes that only the first two, i.e. 'ayyāl (with its feminine forms) and yaḥmūr should be translated ?deer,? 'ayyāl for the roe deer and yaḥmūr for the fallow deer. Further, he believes that ya‛ēl (including ya‛ă̆lāh) should be translated ?ibex,? and cebhı̄, ?gazelle.? ‛Ōpher is the young of a roe deer or of a gazelle.
'Ayyāl and its feminine forms are regularly in English Versions of the Bible rendered ?hart? and ?hind,? terms which are more commonly applied to the male and female of the red deer, Cervus elaphus, which inhabits Great Britain, the continent of Europe, the Caucasus and Asia Minor, but which has never been reported as far south as Syria or Palestine. The roe deer, Capreolus caprea, however, which inhabits the British Isles, the greater part of Europe, the Caucasus and Persia, is certainly found in Palestine. The museum of the Syrian Protestant College at Beir?t possesses the skeleton of a roe deer which was shot in the mountains near Tyre. As late as 1890 it was fairly common in southern Lebanon and Carmel, but has now (1912) become very scarce. The fallow deer, Cervus dama, is a native of Northern Africa and countries about the Mediterranean. It is found in central Europe and Great Britain, where it has been introduced from its more southern habitat. A variety of the fallow deer, sometimes counted as a separate species under the name of Cervus Mesopotamicus, inhabits northeastern Mesopotamia and Persia. It may in former times have been found in Palestine, and Tristram reports having seen the fallow deer in Galilee (Fauna and Flora of Pal), but while Tristram was a remarkably acute observer, he appears sometimes to have been too readily satisfied, and his observations, when unaccompanied, as in this case, by specimens, are to be accepted with caution. Now 'ayyāl (and its feminine forms) occurs in the Bible 22 times, while yaḥmūr occurs only twice, i.e. in the list of clean animals in Deu_14:5, and in 1Ki_4:23, in the list of animals provided for Solomon's table. In both places the King James Version has ?fallow deer? and the Revised Version (British and American) ?roebuck.? In view of the fact that the roe deer has within recent years been common in Palestine, while the occurrence of the fallow deer must be considered doubtful, it seems fair to render 'ayyāl ?roe deer? or ?roebuck,? leaving yaḥmūr for fallow deer.
The Arabs call the roe deer both 'ayyāl and wa‛l. Wa‛l is the proper name of the Persian wild goat, Capra aegagrus, and is also often used for the Arabic or Sinaitic ibex, Capra beden, though only by those who do not live within its range. Where the ibex is at home it is always called beden. This looseness of nomenclature must be taken into account, and we have no reason to suppose that the Hebrews were more exact than are the Arabs. There are many examples of this in English, e.g. panther, coney, rabbit (in America), locust, adder and many others.
Yā‛ēl (including ya‛ălāh) occurs 4 times. In Job_39:1; Psa_104:18; 1Sa_24:2, English Versions of the Bible render yā‛ēl by ?wild goat.? For ya‛ălāh in Pro_5:19, the King James Version has ?roe,? while the Revised Version (British and American) has ?doe,? which is non-committal, since the name, ?doe,? may be applied to the female of a deer or of an ibex. Since the Arabic, wa‛l, which is etymologically closely akin to yā‛ēl, means the Persian wild goat, it might be supposed that that animal was meant, were it not that it inhabits the plains of the Syrian desert, and not the mountains of Southern Palestine, where the ibex lives. At least two of the passages clearly indicate the latter locality, i.e. Psa_104:18 : ?The high mountains are for the wild goats,? and 1Sa_24:2 : ?Saul ... went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.? The conclusion then seems irresistible that yā‛ēl, and consequently ya‛ălāh, is the ibex.
Cebhı̄ (including cebhı̄yāh) is uniformly rendered ?roe? or ?roebuck? in the King James Version, while the Revised Version (British and American), either in the text or in the margin, has in most cases ?gazelle.? In two places ?roe? is retained in the Revised Version (British and American) without comment, i.e. 2Sa_2:18 : ?Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe,? and 1Ch_12:8 : ?were as swift as the roes upon the mountains.? 'Ayyāl and cebhı̄ occur together in Deu_12:15, Deu_12:22; Deu_14:5; Deu_15:22; 1Ki_4:23; Son_2:9, Son_2:17, i.e. in 7 of the 16 passages in which we find cebhı̄̌. If therefore it be accepted that 'ayyāl is the roe deer, it follows that cebhı̄ must be something else. Now the gazelle is common in Palestine and satisfies perfectly every passage in which we find cebhı̄̌. Further, one of the Arabic names of the gazelle is ẓabi, a word which is etymologically much nearer to cebhı̄ than appears in this transliteration.
‛Ōpher is akin to ‛āphār, ?dust,? and has reference to the color of the young of the deer or gazelle, to both of which it is applied. In Son_2:9, Son_2:17 and Son_8:14, we have ‛ōpher hā-'ayyālı̄m, English Versions of the Bible ?young hart,? literally, ?fawn of the roe deer.? In Son_4:5 and Son_7:3, we have ‛ŏphārı̄m te'ōmē cebhı̄yāh, the King James Version ?young roes that are twins,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?fawns that are twins of a roe,? the Revised Version, margin ?gazelle? (for ?roe?). For further reference to these questions, see ZOOLOGY.
With the exception of mere lists of animals, as in Dt 14 and 1 Ki 4, the treatment of these animals is highly poetical, and shows much appreciation of their grace and beauty.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Deer
Although this word occurs in the English Bible only in the connection FALLOW DEER SEE FALLOW DEER (q.v.), it properly represents several terms in the original, which are variously translated, and which denote widely different members of the antelope and cervic families. SEE CHAMOIS; SEE GOAT; SEE OX; SEE PYGARG; SEE ROE, etc. For the proper deer we find the following variations of the same word ayyal' (אִוָּל, an intensive of אִיַל, q. d. a large ram; Sept. ἔλαφος), the male, always rendered “hart” (q.v.), occurs Deu_12:15; Deu_12:22; Deu_14:5; Deu_15:22; 1Ki_4:23; Psa_42:1; Son_2:9; Son_2:17; Son_8:14; Isa_35:6; Lam_1:6 : ayyalah/ (אִיָּלָה, Gen_49:21; 2Sa_22:34; Job_39:1; Psa_18:33; Psa_29:9; Son_2:7; Son_3:5; Hab_3:19), or ayye'leth (אִיֶּלֶת, Pro_5:19; Jer_14:5), the female, always rendered “hind” in our version (Sept. στέλεχος). Many recent writers, however, either suppose different species of antelope to be meant, or, with Dr. Shaw, consider the term to be generic for several species of deer taken together. Sir J. G. Wilkinson believes the ayyal to be the Ethiopian oryx, with nearly straight horns. SEE ANTELOPE.
It should be observed, however, that an Ethiopian species could not well be meant where the clean animals fit for the food of the Hebrews are indicated, nor where allusion is made to suffering from thirst, and to high and rocky places as the refuge of females, or of both, since all the species of oryx inhabit the open plains, and are not remarkable for their desire of drinking; nor can either of these propensities be properly ascribed to the true antelopes, or gazellae, of Arabia and Syria, all being residents of the plain and the desert; like the oryges, often seen at immense distances from water, and unwilling to venture into forests, where their velocity of flight and delicacy of structure impede and destroy them. Taking the older interpretation, and reviewing all the texts where hart and hind are mentioned, we find none where these objections truly apply. Animals of the stag kind prefer the security of forests, are always most robust in rocky mountain covers, and seek water with considerable anxiety; for of all the light-footed ruminants, they alone protrude the tongue when hard pressed in the chase. Now, comparing these qualities with several texts, we find them perfectly appropriate to the species of these genera alone. Ayyal appears to be a mutation of a common name with ἔλαφος; and although no great stress should be laid on names which, more particularly in early times, were used without much attention to specific identity, yet we find the Chaldee ajal and Sarmatic jelen strictly applied to stag. Hence the difficulty lay in the modern denial that ruminants with branched deciduous horns existed in the south-west of Asia and Egypt; and Cuvier for some time doubted, notwithstanding Virgil's notice, whether they were found in any part of Africa; nevertheless, though not abundant where water is rare, their existence from Morocco to the Nile, and beyond it, cannot be denied; and it is likely that an Asiatic species still appears sometimes in Syria, and, no doubt, was formerly common there (see the Penny Cycloepedia, s.v. Deer).
1. The species usually referred to by the above Heb. terms is probably that now known by the name of Cervus barbarus, or Barbary stag, in size between the red and fallow deer, distinguished by the want of a bisantler, or second branch on the horns, reckoning from below, and by a spotted livery, which is effaced only in the third or fourth year. This species is figured on Egyptian monuments, is still occasionally seen about the natron lakes west of the Nile, and, it seems, has been observed by travelers in the desert east of the Dead Sea, on the route from Cairo towards Damascus. We take this to be the igial or ajal of the Arabs, the same which they accuse of eating fish — that is, the ceps, lizards, and snakes, a propensity common to other species, and similarly ascribed to the Virginian and Mexican deer.
2. Another species is the Persian stag, or maral of the Tahtar nations, and gewazen of Armenia, larger than the stag of Europe, clothed with a heavy mane, and likewise destitute of bisantlers. We believe this species to be the soegur of Asiatic Turkey, and mara of the Arabs, and therefore residing on the borders of the mountain forests of Syria and Palestine. One or both of these species were dedicated to the local bona dea on Mount Libanus — a presumptive proof that deer were found in the vicinity.
Of the hind it is unnecessary to say more than that she is the female of the stag, or hart, and that in the manners of these animals the males are always the last to hurry into cover. SEE STAG.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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