Beetle

BEETLE

be'-t'-l (the Revised Version (British and American) CRICKET; chargol; See LOCUST):

This name occurs only in Leviticus 11:22 as one of four winged Jumping insects (sherets ha-`oph) which may be eaten. It certainly is not a beetle and is probably not a cricket. Probably all four are names of locusts, of which more than 30 species have been described from Syria and Palestine, and for which there are at least 8 Arabic names in use, though with little distinction of species. Closely allied to chargol are the Arabic charjalet, a troop of horses or a flight of locusts, from charjal, "to gallop," and harjawan, "a wingless locust."

Alfred Ely Day