Kite
KITE
A bird of prey, and therefore placed by Moses among the unclean birds, Lev 11:14 . See BIRDS.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Kite
See Hawk
Fuente: Plants Animals Of Bible
Kite
(, ayyah’, so called from its clamorous cry; Sept. v. r. ,Vulg. vultur; but in Job 28:7, , Auth. Version “vulture”), an unclean and keensighted bird of prey (Lev 11:14; Deu 14:13). The version of Pseudo-Jonathan has the black vulture; the Venetian Greek , or jackdaw; Kimchi , or magpie; Saadias and Abelwalid the male horned owl most of which are evidently mere conjectures, with little regard to the context, which classes the bird in question with other species of the falcon tribe. SEE GLEDE.
The allusion in Job alone affords a clew to its identification. The deep mines in the recesses of the mountains from which the labor of man extracts the treasures of the earth are there described as “a track which the bird of prey hath not -known, nor hath the eye of the ayyah looked upon it.” Bochart (Hieroz. ii, 193 sq., 779), regarding the etymology of the word, connected it with the Arabic al-ypuyu, a kind of hawk, so called from its cry yadd, described by Damir as a small bird with a short tail, used in hunting, and remarkable for its great courage, the swiftness of its flight, and the keenness of its vision, which is made the subject of praise in an Arabic stanza quoted by Damir. The English designate it as the merlin, the Falco cesalon of Linnenus, which is the same as the Greek and Latin cesalo. This smallest of British hawks is from ten to twelve inches long; the male with blue-gray back and wings, body rufous; the female dark brown back and wings, with brownish-white body (see Penny C(yclop. s.v. Merlin). Gesenius, however (Thesaur p. 39), is inclined to regard the Hebrew term as a general denomination of the hawk genus, on account of the addition , after its kind. SEE HAWK.
” The Talmud goes so far as to assert that the four Hebrew words rendered in the A. V.-‘ vulture,’ glede,’ and ‘ kite,’ denote one and the same bird (Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, 196). Seetzen (i, 310) mentions a species of falcon used in Syria for hunting gazelles and hares, and a smaller kind for hunting hares in the desert. Russell (Aleppo, ii, 196) enumerates seven different kinds employed by the natives for the same purpose. Robertson (Clavis Pentateuchi) derives ayyah from the Heb. , an obsolete root, which he connects with an Arabic word, the primary meaning of which, according to Schultens, is ‘to turn.’ If this derivation be the true one, it is not improbable that ‘kite’ is the correct rendering. The habit which birds of this genus have of’ sailing in circles, with the rudder-like tail by its inclination governing the curve,’ as Yarrell says, accords with the Arabic derivation” (Smith). Wood (Bible Animals, p. 358) inclines to adopt Tristram’s identification of the ayyah with the red kite (Milvus regalis), which is scattered all over Palestine, feeding chiefly on the smaller birds, mice, reptiles, and fish. Its piercing sight and soaring habits peculiarly suit the passage in Job. SEE VULTURE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Kite
an unclean and keen-sighted bird of prey (Lev. 11:14; Deut. 14:13). The Hebrew word used, _’ayet_, is rendered “vulture” in Job 28:7 in Authorized Version, “falcon” in Revised Version. It is probably the red kite (Milvus regalis), a bird of piercing sight and of soaring habits found all over Palestine.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Kite
‘ayyah (Lev 11:14). The red kite, Milvus regalis, remarkable for its sharp sight (Job 28:7, where for “vulture” translated “kite,” ‘ayyah even its eye fails to penetrate the miner’s hidden “path”; Deu 14:13). From an Arabic root “to turn,” the kite sailing in circles guided by the rudder-like tail. The phrase “after its kind” implies that a genus or class of birds, not merely one individual, is meant. The bony orbits of the eye and the eye itself are especially large in proportion to the skull, in all the Raptores. The sclerotic plates enclose the eye as in a hoop, in the form of a goblet with a trumpet rim; by this the eye becomes a self-adjusting telescope to discern near or far objects. Hence, when a beast dies in a wilderness, in a very short time kites and vultures, invisible before to man, swoop in spiral circles from all quarters toward it.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Kite
KITE.1. ayyh. In Lev 11:14, Deu 14:13 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] renders this word by kite in Job 28:7 by vulture; RV [Note: Revised Version.] has uniformly falcon. 2. dh: Lev 11:14 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] vulture; RV [Note: Revised Version.] kite). 3. dayyh; Deu 14:13 (EV [Note: English Version.] glede [Old Eng. kite, the black kite, and the Egyptian kite are all found in Palestine, but it is impossible to say which birds are denoted by the different words.
W. Ewing.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Kite
kt (, ‘ayyah; , iktnos; Latin Milvus ictinus or regalis): A medium-sized member of the hawk tribe (see HAWK). This bird is 27 inches long, of bright reddish-brown color, has sharply pointed wings and deeply forked tail. It is supposed to have exceptionally piercing eyes. It takes moles, mice, young game birds, snakes and frogs, as well as carrion for food. Its head and facial expression are unusually eagle-like. It was common over Palestine in winter, but bred in the hills of Galilee and rough mountainous places, so it was less conspicuous in summer. It is among the lists of abominations (see Lev 11:14 and Deu 14:13). It is notable that this is the real bird intended by Job to be used as that whose eye could not trace the path to the silver mine: That path no bird of prey knoweth, Neither hath the falcon’s eye seen it (Job 28:7).
The word used here in the original Hebrew is ‘ayyah, which was the name for kite. Our first translators used vulture; our latest efforts give falcon, a smaller bird of different markings, not having the kite’s reputation for eyesight.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Kite
Kite [GLEDE]
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Kite
ayyah. There are several species of the kite which feed upon small birds, mice, reptiles, and fish. It was forbidden to the Israelites for food. Lev 11:14; Deu 14:13. The same Hebrew word is translated ‘vulture’ in Job 28:7, ‘falcon’ in the R.V. It is only distinguished in scripture for its keenness of vision, but this characteristic would apply to many different birds. The common kite is the Milvus regalis.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Kite
A bird forbidden as food.
Lev 11:14; Deu 14:13
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Kite
Kite. (Hebrew, ayah). A rapacious and keen-sighted bird of prey belonging to the hawk family. The Hebrew word thus rendered occurs in three passages — Lev 11:14; Lev 14:13; Job 28:7. In the two former passages. It is translated “kite” in the Authorized Version, and, in the latter passage, “vulture.” It is enumerated among the twenty names of birds mentioned in Deu 14:1, which were considered unclean by the Mosaic law and forbidden to be used as food by the Israelites.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Kite
, Lev 11:14; Deu 14:13; Job 28:7. Bochart supposes this to be the bird which the Arabians call the ja-jao, from its note; and which the ancients named aesalon, the merlin, a bird celebrated for its sharp-sightedness. This faculty is referred to in Job 28:7 where the word is rendered vulture. As a noun masculine plural, , in Isa 13:22; Isa 34:14; and Jer 50:30, Bochart says that jackals are intended; but, by the several contexts, particularly the last, it may well mean a kind of unclean bird, and so be the same with that mentioned above.