Snail

1. The Hebrew word shablul occurs only in (Psalms 58:8) The rendering of the Authorized Version is probably correct. The term would denote either a limax or a helix , which are particularly noticeable for the slimy track they leave behind them, by which they seem to waste themselves away. To this, or to the fact that many of them are shrivelled up among the rocks in the long heat of the summer, the psalmist refers.
2. The Hebrew word chomet occurs only as the name of some unclean animal in (Leviticus 11:30) Perhaps some kind of lizard may be intended.

Snail

In Le 11:30, is probably a sort of lizard; and in Psalm 58:8, the common slug or snail without a shell, which "melteth" away by depositing its slime wherever it passes.

SNAIL

snal

((1) chomeT, the Revised Version (British and American) "sand-lizard," Septuagint saura, "lizard" (Leviticus 11:30);

(2) shabbelul, Septuagint keros, "wax" (Psalm 58:8)):

(1) ChomeT is 7th in the list of unclean "creeping things" in Leviticus 11:30, and occurs nowhere else. "Snail" is not warranted by Septuagint or Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) the Revised Version (British and American) has "sand-lizard." It may be the skink or a species of Lacerta. See LIZARD.

(2) Shabbelul is translated "snail" in Psalm 58:8: "Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away." Mandelkern gives limax, "slug."

Gesenius derives shabbelul from balal, "to pour"; compare Arabic balla, "to wet," instancing leimax, "snail," or "slug," from leibo, "to pour." While Septuagint has keros, "wax," Talmud (Mo`edh QaTan 6b) supports "snail." The ordinary explanation of the passage, which is not very satisfying, is that the snail leaves a trail of mucus (i.e. it melts) as it moves along. This does not in any way cause the snail to waste away, because its glands are continually manufacturing fresh mucous. Two large species of snail, Helix aspersa and Helix pomatia, are collected and eaten, boiled, by the Christians of Syria and Palestine, especially in Lent. The Jews and Moslems declare them to be unclean and do not eat them.

Alfred Ely Day

(1.) Hebrews homit, among the unclean creeping things (Leviticus 11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula.

(2.) Hebrews shablul (Psalm 58:8), the snail or slug proper. Tristram explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. "We find," he says, "in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, 'melted away.'"

1. (n.) Any one of numerous species of terrestrial air-breathing gastropods belonging to the genus Helix and many allied genera of the family Helicidae. They are abundant in nearly all parts of the world except the arctic regions, and feed almost entirely on vegetation; a land snail.

2. (n.) Any gastropod having a general resemblance to the true snails, including fresh-water and marine species. See Sea snail.

3. (n.) Hence, a drone; a slow-moving person or thing.

4. (n.) A spiral cam, or a flat piece of metal of spirally curved outline, used for giving motion to, or changing the position of, another part, as the hammer tail of a striking clock.

5. (n.) A tortoise; in ancient warfare, a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers; a testudo.

6. (n.) The pod of the sanil clover.

7642. shabluwl -- a snail
... << 7641, 7642. shabluwl. 7642a >>. a snail. Transliteration: shabluwl Phonetic
Spelling: (shab-lool') Short Definition: snail. snail ...
/hebrew/7642.htm - 5k

7642a. shablul -- a snail
... shablul. 7642b >>. a snail. Transliteration: shablul Short Definition: snail. Word
Origin from balal Definition a snail NASB Word Usage snail (1). << 7642, 7642a ...
/hebrew/7642a.htm - 5k

2546. chomet -- (a kind of) lizard
... snail. From an unused root probably meaning, to lie low; a lizard (as creeping) --
snail. << 2545, 2546. chomet. 2547 >>. Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/2546.htm - 5k