The Story of the Parrot

In this short passage from his Judeo-Arabic commentary on 1 Kings 10:22, Isaac ben Samuel explains the meaning of the word tukiyyim, which in the biblical text are imported by King Solomon. Isaac rejects the interpretation of the word as “peacocks” (also found in some translations today) in favor of “parrots” and explains the etymology of the word in Hebrew. He also reports that he himself saw a parrot with the ability to repeat biblical passages. This bird must have been quite an attraction in medieval Egypt.