Lice
Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897) · International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
THE DICTIONARY — Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)
(Hebrews kinnim), the creatures employed in the third plague sent upon Egypt (Exodus 8:16-18). They were miraculously produced from the dust of the land. “The entomologists Kirby and Spence place these minute but disgusting insects in the very front rank of those which inflict injury upon man. A terrible list of examples they have collected of the ravages of this and closely allied parasitic pests.” The plague of lice is referred to in Psalm 105:31. Some have supposed that the word denotes not lice properly, but gnats. Others, with greater probability, take it to mean the “tick” which is much larger than lice.
THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.
lis (kinnim (Ex 8:17,18; Ps 105:31), kinnim (Ex 8:16), kinnam (Ex 8:17,18); Septuagint skniphes (Ex 8:16,18), ton sknipha, once in Ex 8:18; sknipes (Ps 105:31); Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) scniphes; according to Liddell and Scott, under the word sknips, Slav. sknipa equalsGNAT (which see), there is little ground other than the authority of the Septuagint for deciding between "lice," "fleas," "sand-flies," or "mosquitoes" as translations of kinnim. See also under GNAT the note on ken, the Revised Version margin "gnat" (Isa 51:6).
Alfred Ely Day