Deuteronomy 14:5

Ver. 5. The fallow-deer— It is not certain what animal is meant by the word יחמור iachmor, which we render fallow-deer. Parkhurst says, it is the antelope, an animal of the deer kind, very fierce and quarrelsome (whence its name). It is found in Syria, about the Euphrates; and the Arabs still retain its Hebrew name, calling it jachmur or jamur. See Bochart, vol. 2: p. 910. & seq. The pygarg דישׁון dishon, is also an animal of the deer kind, so called from its ashen colour; the tragelaphus or pygarg, LXX πυγαργον Vulg. pygargum. See Johnston's Nat. Hist. of Quad. p. 63. תאו teou, which we render the wild ox, is a species also of the deer kind, among which it is mentioned. It occurs also Isaiah 51:20. Bochart thinks it another name for the ראם reem or oryx; and observes, that the LXX accordingly render it here by ορυγα, and Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, in Isaiah by ο ρυξ, and so the Vulgate in both places, orygem and oryx. He is of opinion, that the name תאו teou, or תוא tou, is formed from the noise or cry which the animal makes, [as the Greek name θωες, and Latin thoes, for jackalls,] and which is the more remarkable, as it fails not to utter it at the rising of the sun and moon. See Bochart, vol. 2: p. 973, &c. The chamois, זמר zemer, (which word signifies to prune,) is of the goat kind: the reason of the name will appear from the following account of the animal, which we partly transcribe from a late ingenious writer: "The horns are not large, but they are very strong; they are straight all the way to the top, but there they turn into a kind of hook. The creature feeds on the young shoots and shrubs; and these horns, which, like those of the camelopardal, are not fit for weapons either of offence or defence, serve admirably for the purpose of getting at its food. As the crooked horns of that animal are very well situated for pulling down a bough which is a little out of the reach of the mouth, and bending it till it is pliable; those of the chamois, which have absolutely hooks at the end, are as useful for laying hold of a single branch or shoot out of an entangled thicket, and dragging it out singly, that the creature may browse its verdure without wounding its face, or endangering its eyes in the thicket." Watson's Animal World Displayed, p. 114. It must not be overlooked, that both the LXX and Vulgate interpret זמר zemer, the camelopardal; and indeed this animal feeds in such a remarkable manner, as well enough to suit the Hebrew name. (Watson, p. 110.) But Bochart is of opinion, that this creature was not even known in Judea; Bochart, vol. 2: p. 908. For all these names, see Parkhurst's Lexicon. The reader will find in vol. 2 Chronicles 2 sect. 6 of Dr. Shaw's Travels, some curious observations respecting the quadrupeds and birds mentioned in this chapter, which are too accurate to be abridged, and too long to be inserted here.