קַדְמַי

Daniel 7:4 קַדְמָיְתָ֣א first the

The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man and given the mind of a man.

Here: "The first (one)". It is feminine because it agrees with ḥêwāh, "beast" (v. 3), which is feminine in Aramaic. It opens a numbered series of four (vv. 4–7) that runs in time order, so "first" means the earliest of the kingdoms.

Daniel 7:8 קַדְמָ֣יָתָ֔א <the> former

While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.

Here: 'The first ones', meaning the horns that were there before. It refers to order in time, not rank. The same word numbers the first beast in 7:4.

Daniel 7:24 קַדְמָיֵ֔א former [kings] the

And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings.

Here: 'The first ones' or 'the earlier ones', meaning the ten kings before him. The same word describes the 'first horns' that were uprooted in 7:8 and the 'first' beast in 7:4.