Colt, Foal
Colt, Foal
kolt (, ayr, , ben; , polos, , huios, with some word such as , hupozugou, understood; huios alone = son): The English words colt and foal are used in the Bible of the ass everywhere except in Gen 32:15, where the word colt is used of the camel in the list of animals destined by Jacob as presents for Esau. In most cases ayir (compare Arabic air, ass) means ass’s colt, but it may be joined with ben, son, as in Zec 9:9, where we have: al-hamor weal-ayir ben-‘athonoth, literally, on an ass, and on an ass’s colt, the son of the she-asses; compare Mat 21:5 , ep onon ka ep polon huion hupozugou, upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. In Joh 12:15 we have , ep polon onou, and in the previous verse the diminutive, , onarion. The commonest New Testament word for colt is polos, akin to which is German Fohle and English foal and filly. The Latin pullus signifies either foal or chicken, and in the latter sense gives rise to French poulet and English pullet.
In view of the fact that horses are but little mentioned in the Bible, and that only in connection with royal equipages and armies, it is not surprising that colt does not occur in its ordinary English sense.