Hebrew word · H8500

תֻּכִּיִּים

vetukiyim

peacock

Some exotic animal. 'Peacocks' is the traditional reading; 'baboons' or another kind of monkey is the main alternative. Found only here and in 2 Chronicles 9:21.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) peacock, baboon, ape

1a) peacock

1b) (TWOT) baboon, ape

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 1 Kings 10:22

Range of meaning

Some exotic animal. 'Peacocks' is the traditional reading; 'baboons' or another kind of monkey is the main alternative. Found only here and in 2 Chronicles 9:21.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT and NASB have 'peacocks.' NIV has 'baboons.' ESV keeps 'peacocks' and notes 'baboons' as an alternative.

How it drifted

'Peacocks' comes from Jewish interpretive tradition (the Targum and medieval commentators, followed by the Vulgate's pavos) and from a proposed link to Tamil tōkai. English readers take it as certain when it is a guess.

Used elsewhere in the period

The peacock view: Tamil/Dravidian tōkai, 'peacock' or 'peacock's tail.' Peacocks are native to India and Sri Lanka, which would make Ophir an Indian trade link. The baboon view: Egyptian ky (or t-ky), a kind of monkey, argued by Egyptologists such as T. O. Lambdin. The Hatshepsut reliefs at Deir el-Bahri show the Punt fleet coming home with gold, ivory, ebony, baboons and monkeys, a very close match to this list. The Septuagint does not translate the word at all.

Where it appears

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 10:22 וְתֻכִּיִּֽים׃ and apes

    For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

    Here: This word is genuinely uncertain. Jewish tradition read 'peacocks,' linked to Tamil tōkai, 'peacock's tail.' Many modern scholars connect it to an Egyptian word for a kind of monkey and read 'baboons.' Either way it is an exotic animal from far away.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 9:21 וְתוּכִּיִּֽים׃ פ and apes

    For the king had the ships of Tarshish that went with Hiram’s servants, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

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