Leviticus 11:18 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And the swan— It is very difficult to determine the true meaning of the word תנשׁמת tinshamet, here rendered swan, as in the 30th verse it is applied to reptiles, and rendered mole. Parkhurst, thinking that it is derived from נשׁם neshem, to breathe, says, that it here signifies a species of owl, so called from their breathing in a strong and audible manner, as if snoring: and that in Leviticus 11:30 it signifies the camelion, an animal of the lizard kind, furnished with lungs remarkably large, and so observable from its manner of breathing, or perpetually gasping, as it were, for breath, that the ancients reigned it to live only from the air; see Bochart, vol. 2: Some, however, suppose, that it here means the bat, between which and the mole there is an affinity. The gier-eagle, in this verse, signifies the vulture-eagle; for gier, in old English, is the vulture.