Ossifrage
OSSIFRAGE
Bone-breaker; in Hebrew Peries, to break; an unclean bird of the eagle family, Lev 11:13 Deu 14:12 . Some interpreters think the vulture is intended; others, a mountain bird like the lammergeyer of the Alps, which breaks the bones of wild goats by hunting them over precipices.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Ossifrage
See Vulture
Fuente: Plants Animals Of Bible
Ossifrage
occurs in the A. V. at Lev 11:13; Deu 14:12 (where it is classed among unclean birds), as the rendering of the (pe’res; Sept. ,Vuulg. gryps), which is supposed to be derived from the root pairas’, , to break, from the power of its beak to crush the bones of its victims. Hence the Latin compound ossifrage, or bone-breaker, is simply a translation of the Hebrew name. There has been much difference of opinion as to the bird intended by this term, but it is evidently a large bird of the eagle kind, and is very possibly called in these passages by a general name, bestowed indefinitely by the Jews. with no accurate discrimination of species. The Targum of Onkelos, and the Sept. and Vulg., understand the vulture, and many modern versions concur in this reading. Others think the word denotes the black eagle, and some the falcon. It is perhaps the great sea-eagle, which, as it differs in its colors during the several stages of its growth, has obtained three distinct systematic names: Falco ossifragus, Falco albicilla, Falco albicandus. When it has attained its fifth year, it puts on its last suit, which is a dusky brown, intermixed with gray, with a white tail. It is about the size of the golden eagle, and inhabits the cliffs along the sea-shore. It is found in the northern parts of Europe and in Asia. But most prefer to identify the Hebrew bird in question with the species commonly known as the Vulture of the Alps, which was the ossifrage of the Romans. It was called by the Hellenic nations phene (), and is known as the Lammergeyer in Switzerland. This is the largest flying bird of the Old World, and inhabits the highest ranges of mountains in Europe, Western Asia, and Africa. Not only does he push kids and lambs, and even men, off the rocks, but he takes the bones of animals that other birds of prey have denuded of the flesh high up into the air, and lets them fall upon a stone in order to crack them and render them more digestible even for his enormous powers of deglutition. (See. Mr. Simpson’s very interesting account of the Lammergeyer in Ibis, 2:282.) The Lammergeyer, or bearded vulture, as it is sometimes called, is one of the largest of the birds of prey. It is not uncommon in the East; and Mr. Tristram several times observed this bird sailing over the high mountain-passes west of the Jordan (Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 171).
The species in Europe is. little if at all inferior in size to the Condor of South America, measuring from the point of the bill to the end of the tail four feet two or three inches, and sometimes ten feet in the expanse of wing; the head and neck are not, like those of vultures, naked, but covered .with whitish narrow feathers; and there is a beard of bristly hair under the lower mandible; the rest of the plumage is nearly black and brown, with some whitish streaks on the shoulders, and an abundance of pale rust color on the back of the neck, the thighs, vent, and legs; the toes are short and bluish, and the claws strong. In the young the head and neck are black, and the species or variety of Abyssinia appears to be rusty and yellowish on the neck and stomach. It is the griffon of Cuvier, Gypaetos barbatus of nomenclators, and , of the Sept. The Arabs, according to Bruce, use the names Abu-Duch’n and Nisser-Werk, which is a proof that they consider it a kind of eagle, and perhaps confound this species with the great sea-eagle, which has likewise a few bristles under the throat; and commentators who have often represented Peres to be the black vulture, or a great vulture, were only viewing the Gypaetos as forming one of the order Accipitres, according to the Linnoean arrangement, where Vultur barbatus (Syst. Nat.) is the last of that genus, although in the thirteenth edition (by Gmelin) we find the name changed to Falco barbatus, and located immediately before F. albicilla, or the sea-eagle, showing that until a still more accurate classification placed the species in a separate genus, ornithologists had no determined idea of the true place it should occupy, and consequently by what generical appellation it was to be distinguished.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Ossifrage
Heb. peres = to “break” or “crush”, the lammer-geier, or bearded vulture, the largest of the whole vulture tribe. It was an unclean bird (Lev. 11:13; Deut. 14:12). It is not a gregarious bird, and is found but rarely in Palestine. “When the other vultures have picked the flesh off any animal, he comes in at the end of the feast, and swallows the bones, or breaks them, and swallows the pieces if he cannot otherwise extract the marrow. The bones he cracks [hence the appropriateness of the name ossifrage, i.e., “bone-breaker”] by letting them fall on a rock from a great height. He does not, however, confine himself to these delicacies, but whenever he has an opportunity will devour lambs, kids, or hares. These he generally obtains by pushing them over cliffs, when he has watched his opportunity; and he has been known to attack men while climbing rocks, and dash them against the bottom. But tortoises and serpents are his ordinary food…No doubt it was a lammer-geier that mistook the bald head of the poet AEschylus for a stone, and dropped on it the tortoise which killed him” (Tristram’s Nat. Hist.).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Ossifrage
(See OSPRAY OSPREY.) The most powerful bird of prey in our hemisphere. He pushes kids, lambs, hares, calves, and even men off the rocks, and takes the bones of animals high up in the air, and lets them fall on stones to crack them and render them more digestible. The vulture proper has a bald head and neck, a provision against the dirting of the feathers of birds which plunge the head into putrefying carcasses. But the ossifrage has its head and neck feathered and a beard of black hair under the beak. The plumage of the head and neck is dirty white, with a black stripe through the eye; the back, wings, and tail are brown, the parts underneath are fawn-colored.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Ossifrage
OSSIFRAGE (peres = the breaker, Lev 11:13, Deu 14:12, RV [Note: Revised Version.] gier eagle).This is the Lmmergeier (Gypaetus barbatus), a great bird with a spread of ten feet across, distinguished from the true vultures by its neck being covered by dirty-white feathers. It occurs in the ravines around the Dead Sea, but is apparently gradually becoming extinct in Palestine. The Heb. peres and Latin ossifragus are both due to its habit of carrying large bones, tortoises, etc., to a great height and then dropping them upon the ground in order that it may get access to the soft contents.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Ossifrage
osi-fraj (, peres; , gups; Lat Ossifraga): The great bearded vulture known as the lammer-geier (Lev 11:13; Deu 14:12 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) gier-eagle). The Hebrew name peres means to break. Lat ossis, bone, and frangere, to break, indicate the most noticeable habit of the bird. It is the largest of the vulture family, being 3 1/2 ft. in length and 10 in sweep. It has a white head, black beard on the chin, and the part of the eye commonly called the white in most animals, which is visible in but few birds, in this family is pronounced and of a deep angry red, thus giving the bird a formidable appearance. The back is grayish black, the feathers finely penciled, the shaft being white, the median line tawny. The under parts are tawny white and the feet and talons powerful. It differs from the vulture in that it is not a consistent carrion feeder, but prefers to take prey of the size captured by some of the largest eagles. It took its name from the fact that after smaller vultures and eagles had stripped a carcass to the last shred of muscle, the lammergeier then carried the skeleton aloft and dropped it repeatedly until the marrow from the broken bones could be eaten. It is also very fond of tortoise, the meat of which it secures in the same manner. As this bird frequents Southern Europe, it is thought to be the one that mistook the bald head of Aeschylus, the poet, for a stone and let fall on it the tortoise that caused his death. This bird also attacks living prey of the size of lambs, kids and hares. It is not numerous and does not flock, but pairs live in deep gorges and rocky crevices. It builds an enormous nest, deposits one pinkish or yellowish egg, and the young is black. It requires two years to develop the red eyes, finely penciled plumage and white head of the adult bird. It was included among the abominations because of its diet of carrion.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Ossifrage
Fig. 282Gypaetos barbatus
Ossifrage, a bird of prey, which is supposed to be identical with the griffon of Cuvier, the Gypatos barbatus of nomenclators. The species in Europe is little if at all inferior in size to the Condor of South America, measuring from the point of the bill to the end of the tail four feet two or three inches, and sometimes ten feet in the expanse of wing; the head and neck are not, like those of vultures, naked, but covered with whitish narrow feathers; and there is a beard of bristly hair under the lower mandible: the rest of the plumage is nearly black and brown, with some whitish streaks on the shoulders, and an abundance of pale rust-color on the back of the neck, the thighs, vent, and legs; the toes are short and bluish, and the claws strong. In the young the head and neck are black, and the species or variety of Abyssinia appears to be rusty and yellowish on the neck and stomach.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Ossifrage
The Hebrew is peres, which signifies ‘breaking,’ and ossifrage signifies ‘bone breaker.’ This has led to the identifying the bird with the one now known as the Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus), which is a species of vulture, though it has the appearance of an eagle its neck being covered with feathers. It attacks a carcase when the vultures have finished: picks the bones, and then breaks them to feed upon the marrow. It does this by carrying them up to a height and letting them fall upon a stone or rock till they break. The shells of tortoises are broken in the same way by them. In the Levitical economy it was an unclean bird. Lev 11:13; Deu 14:12.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Ossifrage
A carnivorous bird, forbidden as food.
Lev 11:13; Deu 14:12
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Ossifrage
Ossifrage (os’si-frage), bone-breaker. Lev 11:13; the “gier-eagle,” R. V.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Ossifrage
Ossifrage. (the bone-breaker). The Hebrew word occurs, as the name of an unclean bird, in Lev 11:13 and Deu 14:12. It is probably the lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus), or bearded vulture, as it is sometimes called, one of the largest of the birds of prey.
It well deserves its name ossifrage, bone breaker, for, “not only does he push kids and lambs, and even men off the rocks, but he takes the bones of animals, that other birds of prey have denuded of the flesh, high up into the air, and lets them fall upon a stone in order to crack them, and render them more digestible, even for his enormous powers of deglutition. Marrow-bones are the dainties he loves. This is probably the bird that dropped a tortoise on the bald head of poor old Aeschylus.” — N. H. Simpson.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Ossifrage
, Lev 11:13; Deu 14:12. Interpreters are not agreed on this bird; some read vulture, others the black eagle, others the falcon. The name peres, by which it is called in Hebrew, denotes to crush, to break; and this name agrees with our version, which implies the bone-breaker, which name is given to a kind of eagle, from the circumstance of its habit of breaking the bones of its prey, after it has eaten the flesh: some say also, that he even swallows the bones thus broken. Onkelos uses a word which signifies naked, and leads us to the vulture: indeed, if we were to take the classes of birds in any thing like a natural order in the passages here referred to, the vulture should follow the eagle as an unclean bird. The Septuagint interpreter also renders vulture; and so do Munster. Schindler, and the Zurick versions.