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.
Creeping & swarming things
40 words — the serpents, the eight creeping things of Vayikra 11, the locusts and the swarms
×31 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The nachash — of Bereshit 3, of Moshe's staff, of the copper serpent in the wilderness. Nachash the Ammonite king bears the letters as his name, under his own entry on the names lists.
See all 31 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Yaakov's blessing of Dan — the shefifon on the path that bites the horse's heels. Traditionally the horned adder lying in the sand; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×13 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tzefardea — the second plague, coming up over Egypt into the houses and the ovens and the kneading-troughs, and remembered twice in Tehillim's psalms of the going out. At Shemot 8:2 the text writes it singular, one frog coming up over the land, and the tradition has read that singular closely. The books name it nowhere else.
See all 13 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The kinim of the third plague, when the dust of the land became lice through all Egypt. In Yeshayahu 51:6 the same entry's 'kein' is read 'like gnats' by some and 'in like manner' by others; the lexicon counts it here, and the row says so.
See all 7 places it stands →×9 in Tanakh First appearance:
The arov of the fourth plague. What filled the houses of Egypt is the tradition's own debate — swarms of insects by one reading, a mixture of wild beasts by the Midrash that most of the Haggadah's readers know. The same letters write the raven and the evening, each under its own entry.
See all 9 places it stands →×24 in Tanakh Kosher First appearance:
The arbeh — the eighth plague, the first of Vayikra 11:22's four permitted kinds, and the standing figure of the uncountable horde.
See all 24 places it stands →×43 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tola'at — the worm that struck Yonah's kikayon and the manna kept overnight, and 'I am a worm and no man' in Tehillim 22. The same entry carries tola'at shani, the crimson of the Mishkan's dyed wool, and those places are in this number; the dye and the creature are one word.
See all 43 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The rimmah — of the manna that bred worms, and of Iyov's unsparing view of man. The same letters write Ramah the town, under its own entry on the names lists.
See all 7 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tzir'ah sent before Israel to drive out the nations — thrice promised and once recalled. The plain sense is the hornet; some of the tradition reads a plague rather than the insect, and the discussion is old.
See all 3 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Kosher First appearance:
Once, in Vayikra 11:22, second of the four permitted kinds. Traditionally the bald locust; the identification is discussed — the Gemara itself works through the signs of these kinds.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Kosher First appearance:
Once, in Vayikra 11:22, third of the four permitted kinds. Traditionally the cricket or long-horned grasshopper; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×5 in Tanakh Kosher First appearance:
The chagav — last of Vayikra 11:22's four, and the spies' own measure of themselves: 'we were as grasshoppers in our eyes.' Chagav the name is a different entry, on the names lists.
See all 5 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
First of the eight creeping things of Vayikra 11:29. Traditionally the weasel; the mole-rat by others — the identification is discussed. The same letters under a different entry are cheled, fleeting duration; that word is not counted here.
See the one place it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The achbar — second of Vayikra's eight, and the golden mice of the Pelishtim's guilt offering when the Ark plagued their land.
See all 6 places it stands →×1 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
Third of Vayikra's eight. Traditionally the dab-lizard or tortoise; the identification is discussed. The same lexicon entry carries the covered wagons of Bamidbar and Yeshayahu, so this row counts only the one verse of the creature.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Of Vayikra 11:30's five — traditionally rendered from its wailing cry: gecko by the naturalists, ferret and hedgehog by older readers; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
Of Vayikra 11:30's five. Everywhere else in the books this word is strength itself; as a creature it stands in this one verse — traditionally the monitor lizard or chameleon, and the identification is discussed. This row counts only the verse of the creature.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Vayikra 11:30 — the leta'ah, traditionally the lizard proper; which lizard is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Vayikra 11:30. The snail of Rashi's reading, the sand-lizard or skink of others; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The saraf — the burning serpents of Bamidbar 21 and the flying saraf of Yeshayahu's oracles. The seraphim of Yeshayahu 6, standing above the Throne, are written with the same word and are counted in this number; what is serpent and what is angel there is the tradition's own discussion, and this row claims nothing beyond the letters.
See all 7 places it stands →×4 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The devorah — swarming in pursuit in Devarim 1:44, encamped in the lion's carcass for Shimshon's riddle. Devorah the prophetess and Devorah Rivkah's nurse bear the word as their name, under its own entry on the names lists.
See all 4 places it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The akrav — of the great and dreadful wilderness of Devarim 8:15; Rechavam's threatened scourges borrow its name.
See all 6 places it stands →×1 as the creature Kosher — discussed First appearance:
In Devarim 28:42 the tzelatzal inherits the trees and the fruit of the ground — the whirring creature of the curse, traditionally a locust. The same lexicon entry carries the cymbals of the Psalms and the harpoon of Iyov, so this row counts only the verse of the creature; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The peten — deaf to the charmer in Tehillim 58, safe beside the weaned child in Yeshayahu 11. Traditionally the cobra or asp; the identification is discussed.
See all 6 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The par'osh — David's own word for himself before Shaul, twice: 'after whom do you pursue? After a single flea.' Parosh the family of the returners is a different entry, on the names lists.
See all 2 places it stands →×6 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
The chasil, the finisher — named from consuming; in Yoel's chain it eats what the rest left, and Shlomo names it in his Temple prayer. A stage or kind of the locust; the identification is discussed.
See all 6 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The zevuv — whistled up from Egypt's streams in Yeshayahu 7:18; dead flies turn the perfumer's oil in Kohelet. Baal-Zevuv of Ekron carries the word in an idol's name, under its own entry.
See all 2 places it stands →×5 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tzefa, and its longer form tzif'oni — the serpent's own worse offspring in Yeshayahu 14:29, the uncharmable biters of Yirmiyahu 8:17. Traditionally the viper or adder; the identification is discussed.
See all 5 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ef'eh — of the Negev's fauna in Yeshayahu 30:6, of Iyov's wicked man whose food turns within him. A venomous snake; which one is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×7 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
The ash — the quiet destroyer of Yeshayahu's oracles and of Iyov's, eating a garment while nobody watches; 'as a moth to Efrayim,' says Hoshea. The same lexicon entry carries the Aramaic grass of Daniel's chapters, so this row counts only the seven verses of the creature.
See all 7 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
One verse — Yeshayahu 51:8, standing beside the ash in the same line: as a garment the moth eats them, and as wool the sas eats them. Another name for the moth, or for its grub; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The akavish — its house the figure of the godless man's trust in Iyov, its webs the prophets' image of worthless works.
See all 2 places it stands →×9 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
The yelek — of Yoel's swarms and Nachum's; traditionally the young hopping locust before its wings; the identification is discussed.
See all 9 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Kosher — discussed First appearance:
The gazam of Yoel's four-stage devouring and of Amos — the cutter-locust that eats first. Which stage of the locust, or which insect, is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh First appearance:
The govai — the formed swarm Amos was shown at the sprouting of the late growth, and Nachum's swarm that camps in the hedges on a cold day and is gone.
See all 3 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Tehillim 58:9 — the shablul that melts as it goes. Traditionally the snail and its trail; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Tehillim 140:4 — 'the venom of the achshuv is under their lips.' Asp, adder or spider; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The nemalah — 'go to the ant, sluggard'; a people not strong, yet they prepare their bread in summer. Twice, both in Mishlei.
See all 2 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Mishlei 30:15 — the alukah with her two daughters crying 'give, give.' The leech by the plain sense; the tradition also reads a figure, and the discussion is old.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Mishlei 30:28 — the semamit you can catch in your hands, yet she is in kings' palaces. Spider or gecko; 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.