dove
yo.nah denotes a bird used in offerings and evoked in flight, calls, nesting, and poetic comparison.
The term is most often used in comparisons and poetic images of flight, moaning, nesting, or beauty; it also names birds prescribed in offering provisions and birds acting within narrative scenes.
Senses in use
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Poetic and comparative bird imagery · dominant
In Ezekiel 7:16 the plural construct form occurs in the comparison of survivors on the mountains, “like doves of the valleys,” while Isaiah 60:8 compares those approaching to doves flying to their windows. Construct forms address a beloved as “my dove” in Song of Songs 5:2 and Song of Songs 6:9, and plural forms compare eyes to doves in Song of Songs 1:15.
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Birds specified for offerings · common
The singular absolute form occurs in provisions for offerings. In Leviticus 1:14 the APB renders the offering as coming from “turtledoves or from the sons of the dove,” and Leviticus 12:8 places two birds within the stated burnt offering and sin offering provisions.
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Birds in narrative and material description · occasional
In Genesis 8:8 the singular absolute form names the bird sent out to see whether the waters had subsided; Genesis 8:9 reports that it found no resting place and returned to the ark. In 2 Kings 6:25 the plural absolute form appears in the famine-price description of “dove's dung.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term as “dove” or “doves,” including comparisons and the Genesis narrative. In offering clauses it also uses “young doves” and “young pigeons”; These renderings indicate the verse context rather than a fixed English equivalent for each token.