The So-called Ostrich in the God Speeches 497 nowhere that I can discover is the root ˆnr used for ostrich (9). Moreover, if one were going to name an ostrich according to a striking feature, its voice would hardly be the first choice. The three early Greek translations do not translate µynnr as ostrich. Theodotion (q) has terpomevnwn “Delighted Ones” or “Merry Ones”(10). The Septuagint translates the root ˆnr as terpei'n “be glad” in Zech 2,14 (Eng. 10) and Ps 64,9 (MT 65,9, Eng. 65,8). Aquila has ainountwn “praising one” and Symmachus has aJglai>smou' “splendid j v one”. All three early Greek versions seem in various ways to translate based on the meaning of the Hebrew root ˆnr. The Peshitta and Targum also do not identify µynnr as an ostrich. The Peshitta normally uses µ[n for ostrich (11) but uses a word derived from the root jbv “praise”. This is probably similar to Aquila’s translation. The Targum has lwgnrt “cock”. Müller thinks this represents a Hebrew text in which nun and gimel were confused resulting in µygnr. The Targum then finds in lwgnrt an equivalent with the same radicals (12). Thus three early Greek versions, the Peshitta, and the Targum do not translate µynnr as ostrich. Jerome (c. 342-420) is the earliest dateable evidence Müller can find for the identification of µynnr as a female ostrich. Though he suspects that the Old Latin translation Jerome used might have gone back to an earlier Greek one that differed from Theodotian (13). He thinks the reason, largely ignored by modern scholarship, for the identification of µynnr as a female ostrich is a passage from a popular, (9) Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Syriac, Ugaritic (AHw, CAD, M. JASTROW, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature [New York 21903], R. PAYNE SMITH, Thesaurus Syriacus [Oxford 1879-1901], C.H. GORDON, Ugaritic Textbook [Rome 1965]). I would like to thank D. Wilmsen of the American University in Cairo for help with Arabic. Although he consulted lexicons in Arabic, only references to those in English are included here (E.W. LANE, An Arabic-English Lexicon [London 1863- 1893. Reprint Cambridge 1984]; H. WEHR, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic [ed. J.M. COWAN] [London 31974]). He pointed out that Arabic has a general epithet for birds, murinna, derived from the root rnn. This would support Müller’s translation “songbird”. It could be a general epithet applied in the present passage to a sand grouse. The Arabic word for ostrich is na¿ama as in Syriac. (10) Müller thinks Theodotian’s translation is influenced by Isa 54,1 where the root lhx “praise, cry shrilly” is in parallel with ˆnr (“Straußenperikope ”, 92, n. 7). (11) A Compendius Syriac Dictionary (ed. J. PAYNE SMITH) (Oxford 1903) 343. Also PAYNE SMITH, Thesaurus Syriacus, 2405. (12) MÜLLER, “Straußenperikope ”, 93. (13) MÜLLER, “Straußenperikope ”, 94.