I’ve been browsing the new Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary and came across the article on Peacock which reads:
‘Peacock’ is a traditional translation of the last item in the list of luxuries that Solomon’s ships brought from Tarshish (1Kings 10:22; 2 Chron. 9:21 [e.g., KJV, ESV, NLT]). However, a more probable translation of the Hebrew word tukki is ‘baboon’ (NIV) or ‘monkey’ (NAB). All the other items come from Africa, but peacocks come from Asia. The KJV also uses ‘peacock’ to translate renanim in Job 39:13, but this is probably better translated as ‘ostrich’ as in the NIV. (1285)
Out of curiosity I checked various English translations and found the majority go with “peacock.” Here’s the breakdown of what I found:
|
Translation |
Versions |
| Peacocks | ESV, RSV, NLT, KJV, MSG, Young’s Literal, HCSB, NASB, CEV, NET, Douay-Rheims, Knox Bible, NRSV, Lexham English Bible, Amplified, CEB |
| Monkeys | God’s Word, NKJV, Good News, REB, NAB |
| Baboons | NIV, NCV, New Jerusalem, Expanded Bible |
The Baker Deep End Blog 
I noticed this discrepency just yesterday, and appreciated reading your article. I wonder how they determined “a more probable translation” was monkey. And I want to point out that while the modern peacock is from India, there are many other large birds that could have been grouped together before the age of scientific genus and such.
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Rich,
Thanks. You make a good point.
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Experts in the Tamil language point out that the supposed “peacock” (tokei) is a very rare word, used only in poetry, referring to the bird’s tail and not the bird (“it means “thing that hangs down”), and not known earlier than 1500-2000 years after Solomon. Why would traders learn a rare, poetic name for the bird’s tail, rather than the common Tamil word for peacock (mayil), used e.g. in a transaction with Babylon ca. 500 BC? As the Baker Dictionary notes, “ivory”, and “apes/monkeys” are now generally acknowledged to be Egyptian words, so it follows that the next word, “tukkiyim”, is also Egyptian. (The three words occur in the same order as gifts of the King of Punt, in the Ancient Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor.) The respective Egyptian words “gp” (“apes” in KJV) and “t.kyy” can both mean either “monkey” or “baboon”, but not “ape”. (Baboons and monkeys are not apes).
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