Re: [tied] The Turkey and the Guinea Pig

Dutch "kalkoen" (turkey) seems to be named after the Indian town "Calcutta" (perhaps in imitation of "kapoen" (capon)?). I read that Turkish has the word "hindi" for turkey: the bird from India.

Dutch "marswin" was the medieval word for seal (French "marsouin" is derived from it), cf. Polish "s'winka morska". Now we use "rob" of "zeehond".

Marc

The Polish word for turkey is indyk (< indicus). But didn't Columbus discover an ocean route to India? ;)

To confuse you even more, English "turkey" was originally applied to African guinea fowl (supposedly brought to England from Turkish territory). From the way "guinea" is used in English animal and plant names one could deduce that any distant land was informally Guinea to 16th or 17th-century English people.

We call the guinea pig "s'winka morska" 'sea pig', presumably short for 'overseas pig', since of course it's no more marine than meerkats ('sea cats') are.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: João Simões Lopes Filho

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2000 1:58 PM

Subject: [tied] The Turkey and the Guinea Pig

It's interesting how some non-European animals have contraditory names...

The Turkey is called

Turkey in English , < "Turkey Cock"

Dinde in French < d'Inde "of India", "Indian Cock"

Peru in Portuguese < Galo do Peru "Peruvian Cock"

But it comes from North America

The Guinea Pig is called

Guinea Pig in English

"Porquinho da India" in Portuguese, litterally, "India Little Pig"

But they comes from Andine South America, with relatives in Brazil (we call them " prea' ").

The Guinea Hen is called

Guinea Hen in English

"Galinha d'Angola" in Brazilian Portuguese, "Angola Hen"

Joao SL

Rio