Antelope

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Holman Bible Dictionary [1]

oryx leucoryx  Deuteronomy 14:5 Isaiah 51:20

The original NIV read “antelope” in  Isaiah 13:14 , but more recent editions read, “gazelle.” The biblical antelope lived in the Jordan Valley and the Arabian desert.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]

Antelope (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). A doubtful translation of te’ô ,   Deuteronomy 14:5 and   Isaiah 51:20 . Tradition, our only guide here, is in favour of ‘Ox’ [wh. see].

E. W. G. Masterman.

Webster's Dictionary [3]

(n.) One of a group of ruminant quadrupeds, intermediate between the deer and the goat. The horns are usually annulated, or ringed. There are many species in Africa and Asia.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary [4]

See under ROE.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]

a term apparently corrupted from the epithet "antholops" (Gr. Ἄνθος , Ornament, and Ω͂ψ , the Eye ) , applied by the ancients to the gazelle from the proverbial beauty of its eyes. It is now the name ( Antilopus ) of a division of the hollow-horned ruminants (genus Clavicorna ) , distinguished by certain peculiarities of the horn, the maxillary glands, and their slight figure (Brande's Dict. s.v.). Although the word does not occur in our version of the Scriptures, yet there can be no doubt that in the Hebrew text several ruminants to which it is applicable are indicated under different denominations. In scientific nomenclature, the term antelope, at first applied to a single species, has gradually become generic, and is now the designation of a tribe, or even of a family of genera, containing a great many species. According to present usage, it embraces some species that are of considerable size, so as to be invariably regarded by' the natives as having some affinity to cattle, and others delicate and rather small, that may be compared with young deer, to which, in truth, they bear a general resemblance. (See Deer).

The antelopes, considered as a family, may be distinguished from all others by their uniting the light and graceful forms of deer with the permanent horns of goats, excepting that in general their horns are round, annulated, and marked with strim, slender, and variously inflected, according to the subdivision or group to which they belong. They have usually large, soft, and beautiful eyes, tear-pits beneath them, and round tails. They are often provided with tufts of hair, or brushes, to protect the fore-knees from injury; they have inguinal pores; and are distinguished by very great powers of speed. Among the first of the subordinate groups is the subgenus oryx, consisting of five or six species, of which we have to notice at least three. The oryges are all about the size of the stag of Europe, or larger, with long, annulated, slender horns, rising in continuation of the plane of the forehead, slightly divergent, regularly but not greatly curved, entirely straight or lyrated, and from three feet to three feet eight inches in length. The head is rather clumsy, and more or less pied with black and white; the neck ewed, or arched, like that of the camel; the carcass bulky, compared with the legs, which are slender, firm, and capable of sustaining great action; the tail extends only to the heel, or hough; the hair on the shoulders and neck is invariably directed forward, thus, no doubt, keeping the animal cool in flight (see Penny Cyclopaedia, s.v.; Heuglin, Antilope Nordost-Africa's, Jen. 1864)

1.' The Yachmur ( יִחְמוּר ,  Deuteronomy 14:5;  1 Kings 4:23) is not, as in our Auth. Vers. "the fallow-deer" (Sept. Δορκάς , Vulg. Caprea ) , but the Oryx Leucoryx of the moderns, the true oryx of the ancients, and of Niebuhr, who quotes R. Jona, and points out the Chaldaic Jachmura, and describes it as a great goat. The Eastern Arabs still use the Name Jazmur. The Leucoryx, as the name implies, is white, having a black mark down the nose, black cheeks and jowl, the legs, from the elbow and heel to the pastern joints, black, and the lower half of the thighs usually, and often the lower flank, bright rufous. The species now resides in pairs, in small families, and not unfrequently singly, on the mountain ranges along the sandy districts in the desert of Eastern Arabia, and on the banks of the Lower Euphrates; and may extend as far eastward as the west bank of the Indus, feeding on shrubby acacias, such as Tortilis and Ehrenbergi. It was, no doubt, formerly, if not at present, found in Arabia Petraca, and in the eastern territories of the people of Israel; and from the circumstance of the generic name of wild cow or bull being common to this, as to other allied species, it was equally caught with nets and with the noose, and styled תאו ( Tao, To, Theo ) . To this species may be referred more particularly some of the notions respecting unicorns, since, the forehead being narrow, and the horns long and slender, if one be broken off near the root, the remaining one stands so nearly on the medial line, that, taken in connection with its white-colored hair, to uncritical inspection, a single-horned animal might appear to be really present. By nature vicious and menacing, from what may be observed in the Egyptian paintings of the industry which imposture exercised, we may conclude that human art, even in early ages, may have contributed to make artificial unicorns; and most probably those seen by some of the earlier European travelers were of this kind. (See Fallow Deer).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [6]

an´tē̇ - lōp (RV; the King James Version "wild ox," תּאו , te'ō ( Deuteronomy 14:5 ), and "wild bull," תּוא , to ( Isaiah 51:20 ); ὄρυξ , órux (The Septuagint in Codex Vaticanus has ὡς σευτλίον ἡμίεφθον , hós seutlı́on hēmı́ephthon , literally, "like a half-cooked beet-root"): The dorcas gazelle ( Gazella dorcas ) is widely distributed in Syria, Palestine and Arabia. The recently discovered Merrill's gazelle ( Gazella Merrilli ) inhabits the hilly country near Jerusalem and is not commonly distinguished from the dorcas gazelle. Probably the only other antelope within this range is the Arabian oryx ( Oryx beatrix ). Tristram cites two African species (the bubaline antelope, Bubalis mauretanica , and the addax, Addax nasomaculatus ) as existing in the Sinaitic peninsula, southern Palestine and Arabia, but he did not collect specimens of either and was probably misled by statements of the Arabs which in both cases really referred to the oryx. The only naturalist who has ever penetrated into Northwest Arabia is Mr. Douglas Carruthers, who went in 1909 on a collecting expedition for the Syrian Protestant College at Beirût, his object being to obtain the oryx and any other large antelopes which might be found there. Through observation and repeated inquiry he became convinced that neither the addax nor the bubaline antelope is found in Arabia. Tristram says the addax is called maha' and the bubaline antelope baḳar - ul - waḥsh , both of which names are in fact used by the Arabs for the oryx, which is also according to Doughty called waḍı̂ḥah ̌ .

, Cebhı̄ in the list of clean animals in  Deuteronomy 14:5 (the King James Version "roebuck"; the Revised Version (British and American) "gazelle") is quite certainly gazelle, Arabic ẓabı̄ (which see), so it is quite possible that , te'ō may be the oryx. It is noteworthy that it is rendered oryx (ὄρυξ ) in the Septuagint. It must be borne in mind that rē'm or re'ēm , rendered "unicorn" (which see) in the King James Version and "wild ox" in the Revised Version (British and American), may perhaps also be the oryx. That the oryx should be called by two names in the Bible need not be considered strange, in view of the indefiniteness of Semitic ideas of natural history, which is directly evidenced by the three names now used for this animal by the Arabs.

The slightly different form tō' (the King James Version "wild bull"; the Revised Version (British and American) "antelope") found in  Isaiah 51:20 ("Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net") may quite as well refer to the oryx as to any other animal. According to Gesenius the word is derived from the verb tā'āh , "to outrun," which would be appropriate for this or any antelope.

The accompanying illustration is from a photograph of a well-grown female oryx in the zoological gardens at Cairo, which is 35 inches high at the shoulder and whose horns are 21 inches long. An adult male measures 40 inches at the shoulders, 59 inches from tip of nose to root of tail, and the longest horns known measure 27 1/4 inches. The color is pure white with dark brown or black markings. It is a powerful animal and its horns may inflict dangerous wounds. It inhabits the deserts of Arabia and its remarkably large hoofs seem well adapted to traversing the sands. It feeds upon grasses and upon certain succulent roots, and the Bedouin declare that never drinks. Under its name of maha' it is celebrated in Arabic poetry for the beauty of its eyes. Compare the Homeric "ox-eyed goddess Hera" (Βοῶπις πότνια Ἥρη ). Baḳar - ul - waḥsh , the name most commonly used by the Bedouin, means "wild cow" or "wild ox," which is identical with the translation of te'ō in the King James Version.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia [7]

An animal closely allied to the sheep and the goat, very like the latter in appearance, with a light and elegant figure, slender, graceful limbs, small cloven hoofs, and generally a very short tail.

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