Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Philip:

I have wondered the same question, and one possible 
answer is that some of the animals are now extinct 
or mistranslated.

For example, $XL, could this have been what we now 
call a "jackal"? Field studies in Africa have found 
that jackals are predators in their own right.

Another example is the animal normally translated 
as "leopard" has stripes.

Herman Meester also gave a good answer.

Karl W. Randolph.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "A. Philip Brown II" <philipbrown AT apbrown2.net>
> 
> I'm curious if anyone knows why or has a theory as to why Hebrew
> developed/acquired a relatively large number of lexemes for 'lion.'
> 
> )RY, GWR, KPYR, LB), LBYH, LY$, $XL, which omits two feminine lemmas listed
> by HALOT.
> 
> Are there any studies on these synonyms? Semantic field analyses?
> 
> Philip Brown
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> www.apbrown2.net
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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