YAM:MIMI yan (Heb. yew sheaf', twilight, Lev. xi:18 ; Deut. xiv:i6 , Is. xxxiv:11).
In the Septuagint and Vulgate it is translated 'Ibis,' but in our version 'Owl ;' which Boch art supports, deriving the name from qr. neshefih. 'twilight.' (See Om...) Bochart and others, who refer the name to a species of owl, appear to disregard two other names ascribed to owls in the ifith verse of the same chapter of Leviticus. If, therefore, an owl was here again intended, it would have been placed in the former verse, or near to it. In this difficulty, considering that the Seventy were not entirely without some grounds for referring the Hebrew Yanshuph to a wader ; that the older commentators took it for a species of ardea ; and that the root of the name may re fer to twilight, indicating a crepuscular bird; we are inclined to select the night heron, as the only one that unites these several qualities. It is a bird smaller than the common heron, distin guished by two or three white plumes hanging out of the black-capped nape of the male. In habit it • is partially nocturnal. The Arabian Abou-onk, if not the identical, is a close con gener of the species, found in every portion of the temperate and warmer climates of the earth: it is an inhabitant of Syria, and altogether is free from the principal objections made to the ibis and the owl. The Linnxan single Ardca nycticorax is now typical of a genus of that name, and includes several species of night herons. They fly abroad at dusk, frequent the sea shore, marshes and rivers, feeding on molluscs, crustacea, and worms, and have a cry of a most disagreeable nature. This bird has been con founded with the night hawk, which is a goat sucker (caprimulgus), not a hawk. C. H. S.
YARN (yarn), (Heb. ntik-vay'), a term found 1 Kings x:28; 2 Chron. i:16, and translated "drove" or "troop" in the R. V.
"And the king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price." This comes from considering the Hebrew term as meaning com pany or troop. The translators of the LXX and Vulgate have regarded the Hebrew word mikvay as the name of a place. According to this the translation would be, "And as for the going out of horses from Egypt and Koa," etc.
YEAR (yer), (Heb. shavi-now').
Divisions. The Hebrew year consisted of twelve unequal months, which, previously to the Exile, were lunar, as may be seen from the Ile brew names of the moon, which signify respect ively a month (so with us moon from month, German niond) ; though Crcdner, relying too much on hypothesis, especially on the assumption of the late origin of the Pentateuch, has endeav ored to show that, until the eighth century before Christ, the Israelites reckoned by solar years. The twelve solar months made up only 354 days, con stituting a year too short by no fewer than eleven . days. This deficiency would have soon inverted the year, and could not have existed even for a short period of time without occasioning derange ments and serious inconvenience to the Hebrews, whose year was so full of festivals. At an early day then we may well believe a remedy was pro vided for this evil. The course which the an cients pursued is unknown, but Ideler (Chronol. i. 49o) may be consulted for an ingenious con jecture on the subject. The later Jews inter calated a month every two, or every three years, taking care, however, to avoid making the seventh an intercalated year. The supplementary month was added at the termination of the sacred year, the twelfth month (February and March), and as this month bore the name of Adar, so the in terposed month was called Veadar, or Adar the Second. The year, as appears from the ordinary reckoning of the months (Lev. xxiii :34; xxv :9; Num. ix :it; 2 Kings xxv :8; Jer. xxxix :2 ; comp. t Mace. iv :52, x:21), began with the month Nisan (Esth. iii :7), agreeably to an express direction given by Moses (Exod. xii :2; Num. ix:1). This commencement is generally thought to be that of merely the ecclesiastical year ; and most Jewish, and many Christian authorities, hold that the civil year originally began, as now, with the montb Tisri. (See TnoE.) YOKE (yak), (Heb. oh., or nto-taw', „:„ Is. Iviii:6, 9; Jer. xxvii:2; XXV111:10, 12, 13; Ezek. xxx:18), the bars of the yoke; Tseh'med (Heb.