Translation of the Hebrew word Anakah—The Shrew-mouse of Palestine—Etymology of the word—The Gecko or Fan-foot, its habits and peculiar cry—Repugnance felt by the Arabs of the present day towards the Gecko.
WHY the Hebrew word Anakah, should have been translated in our version as Ferret there is little ground for conjecture. The name occurs among the various creeping things that were reckoned as unclean, and were prohibited as food (see Lev. 11:29, 3029These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, 30And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole. (Leviticus 11:29‑30)): "These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creepeth upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, and the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole." Now the word in question is translated in the Septuagint as the Mygale, or Shrew-mouse, and it is probable that this animal was accepted by the Jews as the Anakah. But, whether or not it was the Shrew-mouse, it is certain that it is not the animal which we call the Ferret. Mr. Tristram suggests that the etymology of the name, i.e. Anâkah, the Groaner, or Sigher, points to some creature which utters a mournful cry. And as the animal in question is classed among the creeping things, he offers a conjecture that the Gecko, Wall-lizard, or Fan-foot, may be the true interpretation of the word.
Being one of the lizards, it belongs to the “creeping things," and frequently utters a mournful sound like the word “geck-o." It is exceedingly plentiful, and inhabits the interior of houses, where it can find the flies and other insects on which it lives. On account of the structure of the toes, each of which is flattened into a disk-like form, and furnished on the under surface with a series of plates like those on the back of the sucking-fish, it can walk up a smooth, perpendicular wall with perfect ease, and can even cling to the ceiling like the flies on which it feeds.
The structure of the feet enables it to move about without the least sound, and at first an observer is apt to be rather startled at the mournful cry, and at the silent rapidity with which it darts from place to place.
The Arabs of the present day are horribly afraid of the Gecko, thinking that it poisons everything that it touches, and are even more terrified than are ignorant people in England when they see a toad. Both creatures are equally repulsive in aspect, and equally harmless towards the human race.