Chameleon

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Chameleon . The chameleon ( ChamÅ“leonvulgaris ) is a very common Palestine lizard. It may be found on hot days clinging with its bird-like feet and prehensile tail to the trees, or passing with slow and deliberate walk over the ground. It is remarkable for its marvellous protective gift of changing the colour of its skin to resemble its surroundings, and for its eyes which, moving Independently, one looking backwards while the other looks to the front, give it an unusual range of vision. Even to-day it is supposed by the ignorant, as in olden times, to live upon air. In reality it lives on small insects, catching them by means of its long sticky tongue, which it can protrude and withdraw with extraordinary quickness. Two words in   Leviticus 11:30 are rendered ‘chameleon’ in the Eng. versions. In the A V kôach is so translated, but in the RV [Note: Revised Version.] we have ‘l and crocodile ’ (see Lizard); while in the RV [Note: Revised Version.] tinshemeth ‘mole’ in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘chameleon.’ Both renderings are very uncertain. See Mole.

E. W. G. Masterman.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Chameleon.  Leviticus 11:30. A kind of lizard, of singular habits and appearance. Its body is about six inches long; its feet have five toes each, arranged like two thumbs opposite to three fingers; its eyes turn backwards or forwards independently of each other. It feeds upon flies, which it catches by darting out its long, viscous tongue. It has the faculty of inflating itself at pleasure with air, and thus changing its color from its ordinary gray to green, purple, and even black when enraged. The eyes project out of the head, and can be moved in any direction, and each eye can be moved independently of the other, so that the animal can see ahead with one eye, and at the same instant see behind with the other eye.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A kind of large lizard, called Koach from its great strength ( Leviticus 11:30). Kuebel makes it "the croaking frog"; Gesenius, "the Nile lizard." The word translated "the mole," Tinshemeth , is rather the chameleon, literally, "the inflating animal," as it inflates its body when excited. The Koach answers well to the qecko lizard, small, clumsy, hiding by day in holes, and at night coming forth to prey upon insects. They can crawl like flies on the under side of ceilings by the laminated structure of the under surface of their toes.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:30 , a kind of lizard. Its body is about six inches long: its feet have five toes each, arranged like two thumbs opposite to three fingers: its eyes turn backwards or forwards independently of each other. It feeds upon files, which it catches by darting out its long, viscous tongue. It has the faculty of inflating itself at pleasure with air; and of changing its color, from its ordinary gray to green, purple, and even black when enraged.

King James Dictionary

CHAMELEON, n. An animal of the genus Lacerta, or lizard, with a naked body, a tail and four feet. The body is six or seven inches long, and the tail five inches with this it clings to the branches of trees. The skin is cold to the touch, and contains small grains or eminences, of a bluish gray color, in the shade, but in the light of the sun, all parts of the body become of a grayish brown, or tawny color. It is a native of Africa and Asia.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Chameleon. A Species Of Lizard. The reference in  Leviticus 11:30 is to some kind of an unclean animal, supposed to be the lizard, known by the name of the "monitor of the Nile," a large, strong reptile common in Egypt and other parts of Africa.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew word is koach,  Leviticus 11:30 , and is thought to refer to a species of lizard. There are chameleons in Palestine, but they are unfit for food, whereas the lizards are eaten. The lizard was classed among the unclean animals.

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) A lizardlike reptile of the genus Chamaeleo, of several species, found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. The skin is covered with fine granulations; the tail is prehensile, and the body is much compressed laterally, giving it a high back.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:30 Chamaeleo chamaeleo  Leviticus 11:18  Deuteronomy 14:16

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:30 Coah Tanshemeth

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

a reptile belonging to the saurian or lizard-like order. In the original of  Leviticus 11:30, occur the words Ko ´Ä Ch ( כֹּחִ , so called apparently on account of its great Strength) and Tinshe ´ Meth ( תַּנְשֶׁמֶת ), the first of which, in our version, is rendered "chameleon" (after the Sept. and Vulg. Χαμαιλέων , chamaeleon), and the second "mole;" but Bochart and others consider both words as relating to animals of the Saurian or lizard tribe, and that which our translators have termed the mole is, in reality, the chameleon (Chamaeleo Vulgaris), while the chameleon of our version is some other and larger creature of the same order, perhaps a species of the land crocodile. (See Mole). "The chameleon is a small species of lizard, celebrated for the faculty it has of changing the color of its skin. This property, however, has no reference to the substance it may be placed on, as generally asserted, but is solely derived from the bulk of its respiratory organs acting upon its transparent skin and on the blood of the animal. The chameleons form a small genus of saurians, easily distinguished by the shagreened character of the skin, and the five toes on the feet, divided differently from those of most other animals, there being, if the expression may be allowed, two thumbs opposed to three fingers. Their eyes are telescopic, move separately, and can be directed backward or forward. Chameleons are slow, inoffensive, and capable of considerable abstinence from food, which consists solely of flies, caught by a rapid protrusion of a long and viscous tongue. Among themselves they are irascible, and are then liable to change their colors rapidly; dark yellow or gray is predominant when they are in a quiescent state, but, while the emotions are in activity, it passes into green, purple, and even ashy black. The species found in Palestine and all Northern Africa is the common 'African chameleon,' and probably is that referred to in  Leviticus 11:30, where unclean animals are mentioned." (See Penny Cyclopaedia, s.v.). (See Lizard).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ka - mē´lē̇ - un ( כּח , kōaḥ , the Revised Version (British and American) Land-Crocodile ( Leviticus 11:30 ); תּנשמת , tinshemeth , the King James Version mole , the Revised Version (British and American) Chameleon ( Leviticus 11:30 )):

Kōaḥ , which in the King James Version is rendered "chameleon" and in the Revised Version (British and American) "land crocodile," means also "strength" or "power," as in  Genesis 4:12;  1 Samuel 2:9;  Psalm 22:15;  Isaiah 40:29 , and many other passages. The Septuagint has χαμαιλέων , chamailéōn , but on account of the ordinary meaning of the word, kōaḥ , it has been thought that some large lizard should be understood here. The desert monitor, Varanus griseus , one of the largest of lizards, sometime attaining the length of 4 ft., is common in Palestine and may be the animal here referred to. The name "monitor" is a translation of the German warnen , "to warn," with which has been confused the Arabic name of this animal, waran or waral , a word of uncertain etymology.

The word tinshemeth in the same verse is rendered in the King James Version "mole" and in the Revised Version (British and American) "chameleon." The Septuagint has ἀσπάλαξ , aspálax (= spálax , "mole"). Tinshemeth also occurs in the lists of unclean birds in  Leviticus 11:18 and   Deuteronomy 14:16 , where it is rendered: the King James Version "swan"; the Revised Version (British and American) "horned owl"; Septuagint πορφυρίων , porphurı́ōn (i.e. "coot" or, according to some, "heron"); Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible , 390-405 ad) cygnus , "swan." It appears to come from the root nāsham , "to breathe"; compare neshāmāh , "breath" ( Genesis 2:7;  Job 27:3 the King James Version, etc.). It has therefore in   Leviticus 11:30 been referred to the chameleon on account of the chameleon's habit of puffing up its body with air and hissing, and in the other passages to the pelican, on account of the pelican's great pouched bill.

The common chameleon is abundant in Palestine, being found also in North Africa and in Spain. The other species of chameleons are found principally in Africa and Madagascar. It is not only a harmless but a decidedly useful creature, since it feeds upon insects, especially flies. Its mode of capturing its prey is most interesting. It slowly and cautiously advances until its head is from 4 to 6 inches from the insect, which it then secures by darting out its tongue with great rapidity. The pigment cel ls in its skin enable it to change its color from pale yellow to bright green, dark green and almost black, so that it can harmonize very perfectly with its surroundings. Its peculiar toes and prehensile tail help to fit it for its life in the trees. Its prominent eyes with circular lids, like iris diaphragms can be moved independently of each other, and add to its striking appearance. See Land Crocodile; Mole; Swan; Horned Owl; Pelican .