The Story of the Parrot

R. Isaac Mevorakh ha-Nagid ha-Sephardi said, etc.: And the Targum [Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible] said concerning ve-tukiyyim: ve-tusin.

I say that the meaning of the word ve-tukiyyim is not “peacocks,” but “parrots,” which have a green color. It is a kind of bird that comes from India, and it can speak if it learns how to do so. The word ve-tukiyyim is derived from the word tavekh, that is, “middle,” meaning that it holds a middle position between those animals that speak and those that do not speak. This animal is not granted the [capacity of] speech in a manner similar to humans, but it is not dumb, incapable of speaking, like the birds. If it learns how to speak, it can speak, since its tongue is similar to the human tongue. They are called tukiyyim—that is, “middle”—for this reason. The singular form is tuki, and the plural is tukiyyim. I have seen a parrot in Miṣr [Cairo], at [the house of] our master, the nagid Mevorakh (may his memory be blessed), which was brought to him by a Jew who came from India and who had taught it many passages [from the Torah], and I have heard it recite the whole Shema‘ until [the word] “one” (Deuteronomy 6:4), and it prolonged [the pronunciation] of the [word] “one.” And [it recited] also the passage, Save us, our Lord (Psalms 118:25) in its entirety and the passage Praise, by David (Psalms 145) in its entirety. Therefore, these birds are justly called tukiyyim.