[186] Et Persae, ut Hermolaus nescio quo authore scribit, Corvos Alectoridas dicunt. Ornithologus[1] mendum subesse existimat. Sed forte Hermolaus ex Pausania[2] id decerpserit qui Gallos quidem Gallinaceos quosdam Coraxos[3], id est atro Corvorum colore in Boeotia esse dixit.

And the Persians, as Hermolaus Barbarus writes, I don’t know on what source, call crows  as alectoridas - hens. The Ornithologist – alias Conrad Gessner - believes that underneath there is an error. But possibly Hermolaus had drawn it from Pausanias, who said that in Boeotia there are some coraxoí roosters, that is, they are of the crows’ black color.

Significat denique Gallus quaedam artificialia, ac in primis navem quandam praetoriam, de qua eiusmodi ad Misenum {epitaphium} <epitaphius> legitur: d.m.c. iulio quarto vet. ex{,} pr.<,> n. gallo, m. c<a>ecilius. felix<s> { s.} <et> {i}nonia heraclia s. et{.} s.[4] {Gallus et somnium} <Somnium vel Gallus> inscribitur quidam Luciani luculentissimi authoris dialogus[5], quo divitiarum, atque potentiae incommoda, molestiasque prosequitur, ostendens, quam contra tranquilla res paupertas sit, si modo sua sorte sit contenta. In posteriore autem parte Gallus, qui ex Pythagora in avem transformatus cum hero suo Micyllo colloquens introducitur, divitum cum privatorum, ac civium, tum regum, ac potent<i>um molestias, curas, et pericula recenset, quae illis et belli, et pacis temporibus, praeterea etiam circa valetudinem, quam luxus istae et crapulae labefactant, accidere solent.

Finally, gallus signifies certain things made by technical processes, and first of all a certain admiral’s ship, about which such an epitaph can be read at Cape Misenum: D. M. C. Iulio Quarto vet. ex pr., n. Gallo, M. Caecilius Felixs et Nonia Heraclia s. et s. A dialogue by the very brilliant writer Lucian is entitled The dream or the cock, where he is dealing with inconveniences and troubles following wealth and power, demonstrating on the contrary how much the poverty is a peaceful situation, if only it is satisfied with its state. Moreover in the late part - of the dialogue - the cock, turned into a bird starting from Pythagoras, is set conversing with his master Micyllos and looks into troubles, cares, and dangers of rich men, not only of private citizens and subjects, but also kings and powerful men, things which are in the habit of happening in war and in peace time, moreover, also apropos of health, which luxury and those drunkenness are damaging.

Postremo, ut et de Gallinis aliquid dicamus, rustici Pleiades stellas Graecis dictas, et Atlantides, Latinis Vergilias, Gallinas vocant, et plerique {Butrionem} <Botryonem>, Angli nempe, id est, Gallinam habentem pullos vulgo Bruothenn. Hanc constellationem Hebraei זגתא Zaghta vocant, et Galli la {Poussiniere} <Poussinière>. In dictionario trilingui עיש aysch, vel עוש pro eodem sidere legitur. Gallina nigra apud chimicos est argentum vivum.

Finally, to say something about hens too, peasants call hens the stars called Pleiades by Greeks, and Atlantides - Daughters of Atlas, Vergiliae by Latins, and many people, of course English  - Angles, call them Botryo, that is, hen having chicks, commonly called Bruothenn - brooding-hen. The Hebrews call this constellation Zaghta, and the French la Poussinière - Chicks’ incubator. In the trilingual dictionary aysch, or awsch, is read for the same star. The black hen among chemists is the quicksilver - the mercury.

SYNONYMA

SYNONYMS

Varias quidem nomenclaturas, quibus apud Graecos potissimum, ac Hebraeos Gallus Gallinaceus venit, est reperire. שכוי Secheui in primis legitur apud D. Iob[6]. ubi dicitur: Quis dedit Secheui intelligentiam? Sanctes Pagninus in bibliis maioribus Ven. anni 1515. לשכוי Lasecheui legi scribit, et in nostris aliis exemplaribus Michel esse. Sonat imaginationem in mente {caelatum} <celatam>, cogitationem, intellectum. Plerique interpretes traducunt cordi. Rabbi David[7] ab aspiciendo, et videndo derivari asserit; et alibi, Doctores, inquit, Hebraeorum exponunt etiam Gallo; quod etiam Rabbi Simeon filius Lakisch tradidit, teste Ioanne Reuclino; atque ita D. Hieronymus vertit. Septuaginta vero, Quis dedit mulieribus texturae sapientiam, aut variegatam scientiam? Targhum, Quis dedit cordi intelligentiam? Alterum Targhum, Quis dedit Gallo Sylvestri intelligentiam, ut laudet dominum suum? Rab Abraham, Cordi? Rab Levi, intellectui? Rab Mosech, quis dedit Gallo intelligentiam, ut media nocte surgere doceret hominem ad laudandum Deum? Ita quidem ille haec profert ex quodam Targhum Ierosolimitano in hunc locum, atque suis Rabbinis, sed de corde eos magis congruere asseverat. Sunt, inquit, Ornithologus ex quodam alio[8], apud Hebraeos, qui vocem Sekui Tarnegul (hanc vocem Chaldaicam[9] esse conijcit) cuius ultima syllaba Germanic<a>e Galli nomenclaturae, nempe Gul congruit, id est, Gallum interpretantur[10]. Forte vero ita Gallus dictus fuerit vel ab animositate, quae in corde sedem suam potissimum habet, vel a visu, quem semper simul sursum Milvorum, et aliarum avium rapacium evitandarum causa, et deorsum ad victum intentum habet.

Truly, it is possible to find various terms by which the Gallus Gallinaceus is appearing, especially among Greeks and Hebrews. First of all in Saint Job we read  secheui, where is said: Who has given intelligence to Secheui? Sanctes Pagninus in Biblia Maiora, published in Venice in the year 1515, writes that Lasecheui is to be read, and that in our other copies it is Michel. It indicates imagination hidden in the mind, thought, intelligence. Most of the interpreters ascribe it to the heart. Rabbi David asserts that it is deriving from the fact of looking at, seeing, and elsewhere he says: The Doctors of the Hebrews explain it also by cock; also Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish reported this, as John Reuchlin testifies; and Saint Jerome translated it so. Really, the Septuagint says: Who has given women the skill of weaving, or a multiform expertise? The Targum: Who has given intelligence to the heart? The Second Targum: Who has given intelligence to the wild cock, in order that it may praise its master? Rabbi Abraham: To the heart? Rabbi Levi: To the intellect? Rabbi Mosech: Who has given the cock intelligence, so to teach man to rise at middle of the night to praise God? So, this man without doubt brings forth at this point these words from some Targum of Jerusalem, and from his Rabbis, but he affirms that they are mainly agreeing on heart. The Ornithologist says, making reference to somebody else, that among Hebrews there are some who translate the word Sekui into Tarnegul, i.e. Gallus, (this word he conjectures to be Chaldean) whose last syllable, precisely Gul, in German nomenclature agrees with the word Gallus. Really perhaps the cock could be so called either from the courage, which has its location chiefly in the heart, or from its eyesight, which it has always simultaneously turned upwards in order to escape kites and other birds of prey, and downwards for finding food.

In lexico trilingui pro Gallo etiam legitur סכוי Sikui, et pro Gallina סכויא Sakuia, quae postrema vox in Syrochaldaico dictionario Gallus exponitur, ex Vaic. rab. cap. 26. Pro ברבור barbur in libro Regum[11], ubi legitur{.}<:> Excepta venatione cervorum, caprearum, atque bubalorum, et ברבורים אבוסים barburim avusim, id est, altilium saginatorum in stabulis, hoc est, stabulantium. David Kimhi ex magistrorum sententia, transfert aves, quae afferuntur ex Barbaria. Rab Salamon Gallos pingues, Kimhi addit castratos, Iosephus volatilia, D. Hieronymus aves altiles, septuaginta {ἐκλεκτός} <ἐκλεκτῶν>[12], id est, electus, quasi legerint barur, Chaldaeus avem saginatam vel altilem.

In the trilingual lexicon with regard to Gallus it can be read also sikui, and for Gallina sakuia, and the latter word in Syro-Chaldaic dictionary is reported as Gallus, from Vaic. rab., chapter 26. For barbur, in the First Book of Kings, where we read: To say nothing of hunting deer, goats, and antelopes, and barburim avusim, i.e., poultry fattened in barns, i.e. those which are staying in barns; David Kimhi, according to the opinion of the experts, translates with birds which are brought from Barbary. Rabbi Salamon translates with fat cocks, Kimhi adds castrated, Josephus with flying creatures, Saint Jerome with birds to be fattened, the Septuagint with eklektôn, i.e., chosen - excellent, as if they had read barur, the Chaldean - Syro-Chaldaic dictionary? - with fat or to be fattened bird.

זרזיר Proverbiorum 30[13] varie exponunt: quidam, ut David Kimhi docet, canem leporarium cursu velocem: alii nemer, id est, pardum, alii speciem avis immundae, D. Hieronymus Gallum, septuaginta interpretes secutus, qui ἀλέκτορα reddiderunt. Nam R. Ioseph dicit nomen animantis esse, quod inter Gallinas ambulet. גבר gaber apud Esaiam D. Hieronymus vertit Gallus Gallinaceus: Septuaginta[14], et plerique Hebraeorum vir, uti et Caldaeus pro גברא Gabera. I. Drusius[15] ita vertendum esse et non aliter omnino contendit, hunc in modum scribens. Verba sunt Isaiae ex versu septimo, et decimo capitis 22[16]. Ecce Dominus transportabit te Taltela Gaber, quae verba D. Hieronymus edoctus ita, ut ipsemet testatur, ab Hebraeo praeceptore suo, alia ratione quam interpretes, qui ante ipsum, exposuit.

They explain Sarsir of Proverbs 30,31 in various ways: some, as David Kimhi shows, a greyhound quick in running; others nemer, that is, a male panther - a leopard, others a kind of filthy bird, Saint Jerome the cock, having followed the Septuagint translators, who had translated with aléktora. For Rabbi Joseph says that it is the name of a living being inasmuch as it walks among hens. Gaber in Isaiah Saint Jerome translates it with Gallus Gallinaceus: the Septuagint, and most of the Hebrews, with man, as the Syro-Chaldaic dictionary also does for gabera. Johannes Drusius claims that absolutely it should be so translated and in no other way, writing as follows: They are words of Isaiah drawn from the seventeenth verse of the paragraph 22. Lo, the Lord will transport you Taltela Gaber, words that Saint Jerome, as he himself testifies, has interpreted in this way, otherwise than the interpreters – Septuagint – who there were earlier than him, inasmuch as he was instructed by his Hebrew teacher.