The Definition of the word Chamois

Chamois

Only in Deut. 14:5 (Heb. zemer), an animal of the deer or gazelle species. It bears this Hebrew name from its leaping or springing. The animal intended is probably the wild sheep (Ovis "tragelephus), which is still found in Sinai and in the broken" ridges of Stony Arabia. The LXX. and Vulgate render the word by "camelopardus, i.e., the giraffe; but this is an animal of" "Central Africa, and is not at all known in Syria."