Hebrew word · H3244

יַנְשׁוּף

haiyanshuf

owl

Appears in Lev 11:17, Deut 14:16 and Isa 34:11. In Isaiah it lives with the raven in the abandoned ruins of Edom. The name is usually tied to neshef, "twilight, dusk," so a "bird of the twilight." Some instead tie it to nashaf, "to blow," which could suggest a hissing or hooting call.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) great owl, eared owl

1a) an unclean animal

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Leviticus 11:17

Range of meaning

Appears in Lev 11:17, Deut 14:16 and Isa 34:11. In Isaiah it lives with the raven in the abandoned ruins of Edom. The name is usually tied to neshef, "twilight, dusk," so a "bird of the twilight." Some instead tie it to nashaf, "to blow," which could suggest a hissing or hooting call. Most lexicons give "owl," often a larger owl such as the eagle-owl or long-eared owl. In Modern Hebrew yanshuf is the general word for owl, but that is a revival-era choice, not evidence for its ancient meaning.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT, NIV and NASB have "great owl." ESV picks a particular species (an owl named for its ear tufts). Both are guesses presented as if they were exact.

How it drifted

Same problem as kos. English bird names are exact species labels, while Hebrew folk names grouped birds by how they looked, where they lived and how they behaved.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint (here and in Isa 34:11) and the Vulgate (ibis) both read it as the ibis, a wading bird sacred in Egypt. This may reflect Alexandrian Jewish translators matching it to a bird they knew. But a bird that lives in the dry ruins in Isa 34:11 fits an owl better than a marsh wader. That is why most modern scholars prefer "owl."

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 11:17 הַיַּנְשֽׁוּף׃ the great owl

    the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,

    Here: Often linked to neshef, "twilight," which would make it a "twilight bird." Isaiah 34:11 has it living with ravens in the ruins of Edom. Most modern scholars think it is a kind of owl. The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate read it as the ibis.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 14:16 הַיַּנְשׁ֖וּף the great owl

    the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 34:11 וְיַנְשׁ֥וֹף and great owl

    The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.

    Here: 'And the yanshuf,' another unclean bird from the lists in Lev 11:17 and Deut 14:16. It is usually taken as a large owl. The Greek version reads 'ibis.'

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.