[Avodah] Seeking sources on the symbolism of the hedgehog

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 09:06:12AM -0400, MorrisIsaacson via Avodah wrote:
: Hello, I am seeking Jewish sources which discuss any symbolism associated
: with the hedgehog (eg a Hart is swift, a Lion is regal etc.)

I don't know any, and couldn't find any on Sefaria. (Which is why I didn't
resplond when you asked on another forum.)

Assuming that the Tanakhi word qipod really means hedgehog and/or
porcupine (as per Modern Hebrew), it is hard to miss that it looks
like the same shoresh (albeit a different language) as being maqpid.

The word appears three times in Tanakh: Yeshaiah 14:23, 34:11; and
Tzefaniah 2:14.

But the Metzudas Tzion and Malbim (Yesh 34) say the qa'as and
qefod is kinds of desert birds. So I can't even assume we would know
Chazal were talking about hedgehogs even if they did ascribe a symbol
to it.

The IE (Yesh 14) says the word come from a shoresh meaning "to roll",
because it rolls itself up. Which does fit the hedgehog. But that breaks
the idea that there is a cognate in maqpid. And on Zefaniah he invokes
the Arabic word "qafidh". which is a hedgehog. The Radaq there says
it's qanafadh in Arabic (which is indeed hedgehog, according to Google
translate) and tartuga'ah (?) in French.

Interesting, a qanafadh is also an urchin. Wonder if Chazal would
share that metaphor.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It is harder to eat the day before Yom Kippur
micha at aishdas.org        with the proper intent than to fast on Yom
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rav Yisrael Salanter