מִקְנֶה

From the study of Genesis 13:2

Range of meaning

From qanah, 'to acquire, get, buy'. Its basic sense is a possession or acquisition. In practice it nearly always means livestock seen as property: sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, camels. It can also mean a purchase (Genesis 49:32; Leviticus 25:16).

Against the English

KJV 'cattle' meant all livestock in 1611, but modern readers hear 'cows'. 'Livestock' (BSB, WEB) is accurate. No English word brings out the 'acquired property' sense.

How it drifted

English 'cattle' comes through Old French from the same source as 'chattel' (movable property) and once meant livestock in general. By the modern period it had narrowed to bovines. The KJV wording stayed the same while the English word changed.

Used elsewhere in the period

Herding wealth is spelled out in Genesis 12:16 ('sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys and camels') and is the subject of the strife in 13:5–7, where the herdsmen of Abram's miqneh and Lot's miqneh quarrel. The same pairing of livestock with silver and gold appears in Genesis 24:35 and 26:13–14.

From the study of Jeremiah 9:10

Range of meaning

Livestock: cattle, sheep and goats, viewed as acquired property and wealth. The word comes from qanah, 'acquire, buy'.

Against the English

'Cattle' (KJV, BSB) can sound like cows only. 'Livestock' (WEB) is wider and closer.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of the herds of Abram and Jacob as their wealth (Gen 13:2; 30:43). The Greek Septuagint translates it here with hyparxis, 'possessions, property', which shows that early readers heard 'wealth' in the word.

From the study of Genesis 13:7

Range of meaning

Livestock considered as property: sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, camels. It comes from קָנָה (qanah, "to acquire, buy"), so the root idea is "what has been acquired." For people who lived by herding, animals were the main form of wealth.

Against the English

KJV "cattle" meant livestock of any kind in 1611. Modern readers hear only bovines. BSB leaves the word out entirely ("the herdsmen of Abram"). WEB, ESV and others keep "livestock."

How it drifted

English "cattle" comes from Anglo-Norman catel, "property," the same source as "chattel." Over the following centuries it narrowed to mean cows. Neatly, it started out meaning "possessions," which is close to miqneh.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used throughout the patriarchal stories for herding wealth (Gen 26:14; 30:29; 47:16–18). Verse 5 lists Lot's "flocks and herds and tents"; miqneh covers both flocks and herds.