CONEY

An old English name for the rabbit; used in Scripture to translate the Hebrew SHAPHAN, which agrees with the Ashkoko or Syrain Hyrax, Le 11:5 De 14:7 Ps 104:18 Pr 30:26. This animal is externally of the size and form of the rabbit, and of a brownish color. It is, however, much clumsier in its structure, without tail, and having long bristly hairs scattered through the fur. The feet are naked below, and the nails flat and rounded, except those in the inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped. They cannot dig, but reside in the clefts of rocks. They are called by Solomon, "wise," and "a feeble folk;" they are timid and gregarious in their habits, and so gentle and quiet, that they shrink from the shadow of a passing bird. The name of Spain is said to have been given to it by Phoenician voyagers, who seeing its western coast overrun with animals resembling the shaphan, called it Hispania, or Coley-land. Some eminent interpreters think the SHAPHAN means the Jerboa.

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Coney. Coney
(Heb. shaphan; i.e., “the hider”), an animal which inhabits the mountain gorges and the rocky districts of Arabia Petraea and the Holy Land. “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks” (Prov. 30:26; Ps. 104:18). They are gregarious, and “exceeding wise” (Prov. 30:24), and are described as chewing the cud (Lev. 11:5; Deut. 14:7).

The animal intended by this name is known among naturalists as the Hyrax Syriacus. It is neither a ruminant nor a rodent, but is regarded as akin to the rhinoceros. When it is said to “chew the cud,” the Hebrew word so used does not necessarily imply the possession of a ruminant stomach. “The lawgiver speaks according to appearances; and no one can watch the constant motion of the little creature’s jaws, as it sits continually working its teeth, without recognizing the naturalness of the expression” (Tristram, Natural History of the Bible). It is about the size and color of a rabbit, though clumsier in structure, and without a tail. Its feet are not formed for digging, and therefore it has its home not in burrows but in the clefts of the rocks. “Coney” is an obsolete English word for “rabbit.”

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CONEY. → General scriptures concerning Le 11:5; De 14:7; Ps 18; Pr 30:26

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Co″ney (? or ?), n. 1. 1. (Zoöl.) A rabbit. See Cony.
2. 2. (Zoöl.) A fish. See Cony.