StrongerBible

deror

דְּרוֹר

HebrewH1866“swallow”

Appears 2 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Psa 84:3(4)Pro 26:2
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradedeh-ROHRnoun

What deror means

a swallow: the small bird known for its quick, darting flight and for nesting in sheltered corners of buildings

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This is the name of one particular bird, not a word for birds in general. Both times it appears it stands next to the ordinary word for a small bird (צִפּוֹר), and the pairing is the point: first the common bird anyone would notice, then the quick one that never seems to stop moving.

Each of the two verses leans on something the bird actually does. In Psalm 84:3 it is the nesting. The bird has found a place to settle her young right beside God's altars, and the worshipper who is shut out of the temple envies her that. In Proverbs 26:2 it is the flight. A curse with no cause behind it never lands, the way this bird keeps darting past without settling.

The name itself seems to come from that restless freedom of movement. Hebrew has an identically spelled word (דְּרוֹר) for a proclaimed release that frees people from debt and slavery and returns forfeited land to its owners, and most scholars trace both words back to one old idea of moving or flowing freely. On that reading this is the free flier, a bird named for how it moves rather than for how it looks or sounds.

Which bird exactly is not fully settled. The two candidates are the swallow and the very similar swift. Where a language keeps those apart, translators normally choose "swallow" here and give "swift" to a different Hebrew bird name, one spelled just like the word for a horse (סוּס).

Psa 84:3(4)Pro 26:2

What scholars say about deror

The noun occurs twice as a bird name (Ps 84:4 MT = Eng 84:3; Prov 26:2), in both places in parallelism with צִפּוֹר. Lexicography divides over whether this is a homonym or one of three senses of a single root. BDB (p. 204) files the bird as a separate entry apart from I. דְּרוֹר "a flowing; free run, liberty," which it derives from an unused root meaning to move rapidly; DCH, following its usage-based editorial policy, lists numbered homonyms and brackets etymology altogether. Against this, Gesenius (Thesaurus) already gathered the uses under דָּרַר, glossing "swift flight, gyration ... a bird wheeling in its flight ... the swallow," and HALOT (p. 233) links the bird name, the "release" noun and the מָר־דְּרוֹר of Exod 30:23 under the base drr, comparing Arabic darra ("to teem with, mainly milk"). Milgrom (Leviticus 23-27, AB) judges the three attested senses related, on the principle that whatever is released flows and gains freedom, and Vainstub (JNSL 49 [2023]: 95-118) argues for a single biconsonantal base dr ("abundance, abundant flow") yielding "free flow," then "freedom," then the free-flying bird. On the zoological identification the candidates are Hirundo rustica (swallow or martin) and Apus apus (swift); the usual translational division of labour assigns דְּרוֹר to the swallow and סוּס / סִיס (Isa 38:14; Jer 8:7) to the swift. The ancient versions are less precise: LXX renders στρουθίον in both places, and some later versions assimilate the bird to a turtle-dove.

Where scholars disagree about deror

Whether the bird name and the noun for a proclaimed release are one word with a shared root, or two separate words that happen to be spelled alike.

  • majorityOne root, carrying the idea of free or abundant movement, lies behind both: the bird is named for its free, darting flight and the release is a setting free.; W. Gesenius, Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae Hebraeae et Chaldaeae Veteris Testamenti, s.v. דָּרַר; HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner-Stamm), p. 233, s.v. דְּרוֹר; J. Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27 (Anchor Bible 3B), 2001, on Lev 25:10; D. Vainstub, "The Roots dr–drr–ʾdr in Biblical Hebrew: A New Examination," Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 49 (2023): 95-118
  • minorityThe bird belongs in its own lexical entry, listed apart from the noun for release, whatever the ultimate derivation may be.; BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), 1906, p. 204, s.v. דְּרוֹר
  • minorityThe question should be left open: senses are established by attested usage rather than by comparing roots, so the words are listed as numbered homonyms with no claim either way.; D. J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, s.v. דְּרוֹר
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1906, p. 204, s.v. דְּרוֹרlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner-Stamm), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 233, s.v. דְּרוֹרlexicon
  • D. J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, s.v. דְּרוֹרlexicon
  • W. Gesenius, Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae Hebraeae et Chaldaeae Veteris Testamenti, s.v. דָּרַרlexicon
  • J. Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27 (Anchor Bible 3B), 2001, on Lev 25:10commentary
  • D. Vainstub, "The Roots dr–drr–ʾdr in Biblical Hebrew: A New Examination," Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 49 (2023): 95-118article

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of דְּרוֹר

f s absolute

דְּרוֹר

Psa 84:3, Pro 26:2