Biblical names
The animals of the Tanakh — 162 words, every animal the twenty-four books name, from the donkey of Bereshit 12 to the legendary creatures of Iyov and the Psalms. Each was enumerated from our own lexicon layer and read against the corpus: the count on a row is the count its door opens, the first appearance is the word's own, and where the tradition discusses what a word names, the row says so instead of inventing certainty.
A spelling is not a word: rachel the ewe and Rachel the matriarch share their letters, and only the ewe is counted here — the rows count the word's own lexicon entry, and where one entry bundles a creature with something else, the row counts the creature's verses alone and its note tells you.
Where the Torah names a kind, it rules the name: the kinds Devarim permits and the birds Vayikra prohibits are ruled by name, certain even where what the name names is discussed. The rest are ruled the way the Torah rules them — beasts by the signs of Vayikra 11, birds by that enumeration and by the tradition a bird has to carry, since the Torah gave signs for beasts and none for birds. Where the tradition itself discusses a status the row says so, and the legendary and collective rows carry no ruling at all. The offering mark stands on the korban species — the herd, the flock, the turtledove and the dove.
Birds & winged creatures
36 words — the birds of the sky, the twenty of the kosher lists among them, and the winged things the Torah counts with them
×10 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The orev — first bird out of the Teivah, Eliyahu's provisioners at the brook Kerit. The same letters write 'evening' and other words under their own entries; only the raven is counted here.
See all 10 places it stands →×33 in Tanakh Kosher Offering species First appearance:
The yonah — Noach's messenger with the olive leaf, the offering of the poor, the beloved's eyes in Shir HaShirim. Yonah the prophet bears the word as his name; he is his own entry, on the names lists.
See all 33 places it stands →×14 in Tanakh Kosher Offering species First appearance:
The tor — paired with the young dove in the offerings from Avraham's covenant onward; its voice is heard in the land in Shir HaShirim. The same letters in the Aramaic chapters are the bullock, counted on its own row.
See all 14 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh First appearance:
The gozal, the young of the bird — Avraham's covenant offering, and the eaglets over whom the nesher stirs its nest in Ha'azinu.
See all 2 places it stands →×8 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ayit, the swooping bird of prey as a kind — driven off the pieces by Avraham at the covenant, summoned to the feast by the prophets.
See all 8 places it stands →×4 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The netz — in both kosher lists 'after its kind,' and soaring by God's wisdom in Iyov 39:26. The lexicon carries 'blossom' under the same entry, and its one such place is in this number; the row says so.
See all 4 places it stands →×4 in Tanakh Kosher First appearance:
The slav — the bird the wind brought up from the sea, twice, for the people's craving; remembered again in Tehillim 105. Israel ate it at God's own giving, and that is where its status comes from. Quail is the usual rendering; which bird it names, and the tradition a bird must carry before it is eaten, are discussed.
See all 4 places it stands →×28 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The nesher — 'on eagles' wings' at Sinai, head of both kosher lists' forbidden birds, renewer of youth in Tehillim 103; Daniel's Aramaic chapters write it too, counted with this row. Eagle or griffon vulture is discussed; the Hebrew is one bird.
See all 28 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists among the forbidden birds. Traditionally the ossifrage, the bone-breaker vulture; the identification is discussed — as it is for most of the twenty birds of these lists, which the Gemara in Chullin already debates.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists among the forbidden birds. Traditionally the osprey or black vulture; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The da'ah of Vayikra's list; Devarim writes ra'ah, and the Gemara holds the two are one bird, so the two spellings are counted as one row. Traditionally the kite, the sharp-sighted glider; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ayah of both kosher lists — and of Iyov 28, where the path no falcon's eye has seen measures the hiddenness of wisdom. Traditionally a hawk or kite; the identification is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×9 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The bat ha-ya'anah of both kosher lists, companion of the desolate places. Traditionally the ostrich; some render an owl — the identification is discussed.
See all 9 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists among the forbidden birds. The renderings run from owl to falcon to nighthawk; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. Traditionally the sea-gull, the lean bird of the shore; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
The kos — in both kosher lists, and the Psalmist alone 'like a kos of the ruins.' The same letters are far more often the cup, under the same lexicon entry, so this row counts only the three verses of the bird; the identification (a small owl) is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. The Gemara reads its name from casting itself upon the sea for fish — the cormorant or fishing-owl; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
In both kosher lists, and haunting Edom's ruin in Yeshayahu 34:11. Traditionally an owl, named for the twilight or for its cry; the identification is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
One spelling, two creatures — Strong's own definition says as much. In Vayikra 11:18 it stands among the birds, traditionally a white owl; in 11:30 it closes the list of creeping things, traditionally the chameleon or mole. Both stands are counted in this one row, and the two identifications are each discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×5 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
In both kosher lists, and the Psalmist's own figure of loneliness — 'I am like a ka'at of the wilderness.' Traditionally the pelican; the identification is discussed.
See all 5 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. Traditionally a vulture — the Egyptian vulture of the naturalists — said to be tender to its young, from the letters of mercy; the identification is discussed. Those letters under their own entries — womb, compassion — are not counted here.
See all 2 places it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The chasidah — in both kosher lists, knowing her seasons in Yirmiyahu 8:7, nesting in the junipers in Tehillim 104. Named, the tradition says, for the kindness she does her own.
See all 6 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists, 'after its kind.' Traditionally the heron, named for its temper; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. Traditionally the hoopoe, the crested wild-cock of the Gemara's discussion; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The atalef — a mammal by its kind, but the Torah lists it last of the twenty among the flying creatures, and it stands here where the text stands it. To the bats and the moles men will cast their idols, says Yeshayahu.
See all 3 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The dayah — in Devarim's list, and gathering each with her mate over Edom's ruin in Yeshayahu 34. Traditionally a kite; the Gemara discusses how she stands beside the ayah and the da'ah.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
The korei — hunted on the mountains, as David says to Shaul; brooding what it did not lay in Yirmiyahu's proverb. Named, the tradition says, for its call; the bare letters are everywhere else the verb 'to call.'
See all 2 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Kosher First appearance:
Once, on Shlomo's daily table — 'and fatted barburim.' Geese, swans, capons, guinea-fowl: the renderings multiply and the identification is discussed. The corpus writes it only with a particle attached.
See the one place it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The kippod of the desolation prophecies — lodging in Bavel's pools and on Ninveh's capitals. Bittern by some renderings, hedgehog by Rashi and many others — in which case it is no bird at all; the identification is discussed, and the row stands where the verses perch it.
See all 3 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Yeshayahu 34:15 — there the kippoz nests, lays, hatches and broods in her shadow. An owl by the nesting language, the arrow-snake by other renderings; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×2 as the creature Kosher — discussed First appearance:
The sus that chirps in Chizkiyahu's psalm and keeps its season in Yirmiyahu 8:7 — the same letters, and the same lexicon entry, as the horse, so this row counts only the two verses of the bird. At Yirmiyahu 8:7 those letters are what the text writes; the Masoretes read sis there, and that is the form the reader will meet on the verse. Swallow or swift; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
The agur, named both times beside the sus — chirping in Yeshayahu 38:14, keeping its season in Yirmiyahu 8:7. Crane or swallow; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
The dror — nesting by the altars in Tehillim 84, wandering in Mishlei's proverb. Sparrow or swallow is discussed, and the status travels with the identification: the bird Chullin 62a fits to the metzora's purification is the white senunit, and that is the very bird R. Eliezer forbids there and the Sages permit. The same letters write dror, liberty — proclaimed in the Yovel — under a different entry, not counted here.
See all 2 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
Once, in Mishlei 30:31, among the stately of step — the zarzir of the loins. Rooster, greyhound, starling, war-horse: few words in the books are more variously rendered, and the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
Once, in Iyov 38:36 — 'who gave the sechvi understanding?' The tradition's morning blessing answers with the rooster who tells night from day; others read the heart's own discernment. The identification is discussed, and the word stands here for the rooster reading's sake.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
Once, in Iyov 39:13 — 'the wing of the renanim rejoices' — opening the passage on the bird that leaves her eggs on the earth. Read as the ostrich by the passage's own sense; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →Where these come from. The candidates were enumerated from the Hebrew lexicon our index carries — every entry whose definition names an animal sense — then each was verified against the corpus itself: its spelling, its count, its first stand. The gematria is computed by the same engine that runs every search, and the count on each row is the number of verses its door opens — the same walk, counted once. Deliberately absent: words that are only ever epithets (the אבירים of the Psalms), the scapegoat's destination עזאזל (the goat itself is the שעיר), and Yeshayahu 2:20's moles, which the ketiv writes across two words and are left to their verse.