What The Names of Animals Mean
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2023
- Sometimes, the names of animals have more to them than meets the eye. In this video, we explore the best examples of that.
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Sources:
[1] www.etymonline.com/
[2] www.merriam-webster.com/
[3] en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktio...
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He scratches with the hands, perfection.
i thought of the cotton candy video when he said that
"Trash Panda"
Trash didn't exist, as we understand it, when scratchy-hands was named.
Also, panda is another bear, so far as the culture'd have concerned themselves
Raccoon and skunk are excellent examples of why derivational morphology is so wonderful.
Scratch cats and piss puppies. I'm in tears.
"Penguin" was originally used to refer to the extinct group of flightless sea birds known as auks. It was applied to the birds we are familiar with now when they were first encountered by Europeans because to them they resembled auks, although the two groups are not related other than being birds.
I also heard that "white head" might refer to the promontories they inhabited, rather than to a corporeal feature.
only great auks are extinct, most other auks are still living
Thank you for this
I thought "penguin" came from Latin aves pinguis meaning fat bird!
Not many Penguins in Wales, and given that Welsh was at it's height well before the age of discovery, I think that's really grasping at semantic straws.
The Spanish word for platypus is "ornitorrinco", which is derived from Greek, meaning "bird-like beak".
In portuguese to
French too: ornithorynque
Sane in Italian, "ornitorinco"
The word for spider is derived from the Proto-Germanic: spin-þron which means ‘spinner’ (a reference to how spiders make their webs), from the Proto-Indo-European root word: (s)pen, which means ‘to draw, stretch, spin’
honestly i like the interpretation of narwhal as "corpse whale". sounds more mysterious, eerie and atmosperic. adds a layer of mystery
I found out that the IndoEuropean original name for "bee" was *wobzha (obviously also means wasp) and I had a stoke of inspiration that the original form might well have been "buzz-buzz"
Bee comen from PIE *bʰey- "bee"
Wasp comes from PIE *wobʰseh₂ "wasp", from *webʰ- "weave" (referring to the insect's woven nests)
The similarities between the Native American names and languages compared to those from the old world never ceases to fascinate and amaze me.
Camo people
In many cases, this is true only for the English language. Raccoons for instance are "Waschbären" (washing bears) in German, and the opossum is called "Beutelratte" (pouch rat), because it is a marsupial which carries its offspring in a pouch. On the other hand, it makes sense to use the words the native people have for the creatures in their environment instead of inventing new ones. And yes, German still calls some dolphinlike animals (porpoises to be specific) Schweinswale (pig whales).
@@SiqueScarface not to waste time making generalizations, but it seems like this is because England is an island closer to Greenland than mainland Europe is to Greenland (and Greenland is kind of like a Native American island)
@@seanrowshandel1680 I think you are on the wrong path here. In Germany, there have always been attempts to find German words for terms where only a word in a foreign language or a loanword exists. One famous person in this effort was a guy named Philipp von Zesen, who in the 17th century went out and invented new German words for things like address, project or passion (Anschrift, Entwurf, Leidenschaft). He was not the only one, but one of the most influential. Similar efforts don't exist in the anglophone world, where loanwords are happily accepted, or as James D. Nicoll once observed: "We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
@@SiqueScarface that's exactly the same point that I'm making. Is there any doubt as to whether if countries east of England understood what countries west of England have always been & are still doing, they would nuke them? Yes of course: French, and less famously, Persian, are languages which are "managed" "centrally" like that by a government agency, which creates words in order to "uphold the culture" (as if loanwords were what was crushing the people)
Thumbnail looking like a Skyrim puzzle
lmfao true
lol
It do ngl
Walrus-They were used as walls in Russia
Owl-When named it was thought that we had now discovered “Owl” (old way to spell all) of the birds
Dolphin-Thought to look like a doll with fins
That's crazy cus owls aren't even birds.
@@vitriolicAmaranththis has to be bait
@@vitriolicAmaranth you're a bird. Go fly
@@vitriolicAmaranth Please tell me this is a joke
@@martletkay It is an obscure internet meme from 12 years ago. So yes, it's a joke.
In German, Platypus is called "Schnabeltier" which can be translated as "Bill Animal". Because it has a bill... and it is an animal.
In Finnish, it is said even more intricately: "vesinokkaeläin" or "water bill animal".
But snabel means elefant trunk in sweden..... not bird bills, why is this
Could you please make a video about animal's babies names? Like kitten, gosling, cygnet, lamb, etc.
Finding out that one of my favorite animals (armadillo) is called a word that means a combination of two of my other favorite animals, just made my whole day! I’m unreasonably happy right now
I like the origin of Raccoon. "he scratches with the hands". Spanish also adopted the indigenous word, using "mapache" from Nahuatl's "mapatzin". The word roots bieng MA meaning hand, PA meaning wash, and Tzin- a diminutive suffix that expreses smallness or endearment like Spanish "ito". So Mapache means little one who washes their hands, or little hand washer.
I've heard butterflies might actually be named for their buttery poop, hence their Dutch name being boterschijte, which literally means "butter-pooper". Though that might also be the origin of the butter-stealing myth as well.
Also, dolphins may not be called merepigs now, but there are still some cetaceans named after pigs, namely the porpoise, whose name is derived from the Latin "porcopiscis", literally "pig fish".
boterschijte? kinda like “buttershit” or “buttershitter”😂
Vlinder?
In Finland, the porpoise was once called merisika i.e "sea pig".
Which is why in Katwijk, there is a "Dominee Varkevisserstraat".
Good to hear Peanut is still doing well
In several European languages it's understandable.
english Peanut
swedish Jordnöt
dutch grondnoot/apennoot/pinda (ok the last one doesn't make sense)
german erdnuß
but in French!?!? cacahuète(sp?)
Thank you so much for this, and all your videos. You make learning fun and interesting.
Give my best to Peanut. I'm sure he helped you best as he could with all the research.☺
More videos about Capybaras please
The capy, is also seen in capoeira, wich means high grass
It is fascinating to see how different languages have such similar sounding words. In my language, Urdu, a cow is called gaa-ay (گائے). Similarly, a bull is called bael (بیل).
An owl is called ullu (اُلُّو). And a giraffe is called zaraffa (زرافہ).
And also, many animal names have the same meanings as in English. The hippopotamus is called Daryaai Ghora (دریائی گھوڑا) which literally translates to river horse. Porcupines are called Khaar pusht (خار پُشت) which translates to spiny back.
Thousands of years of isolation and still these two languages have many things in common due to their ancient Indo-European roots.
And ancient semitic religions like the Canaanites and Sumerians(?) Worshipped a bull god name baal. Might be linked.
I think cows might be offended by that homophobic slur.
The word for _Raccoon_ in German is _Waschbär,_ which means "wash bear" or "washing bear". I am told this is the case in several languages, the reason being that they wash their food before eating it, and they kind of resemble bears, I guess? Maybe nobody could figure out which animal family they belonged to and just settled on "bear."
Anyways. Yeah.
By the looks of it, that's also the case with Icelandic, Japanese and Chinese. In French they're called "raton laveur", same idea, but named after rats instead of bears. Though apparently in Quebec they're called, "chat sauvage" (literally wild cat) instead.
@@jaschabull2365
the term racoon itself means something like he who rubs/cleans in some native american tongue. The only people that don't use a literal term like wash-bear are english speakers, and that only because they use a term which they don't understand
8:47 The name of chamaeleons is a Sumerian calque, Sumerians used "lion" as a generic word for any predator, so they called lizards "earth/creeping lions".
"He strips off" for Moose---might also refer to all those bloody shreds of "velvet" that come off so dramatically in their annual antler growth
Midges is still used in Scotland to describe the tiny mosquito type insect, that have been know to drive people insane.
Canada Geese are called Wawa by Canadian native tribes because of the noise they make when flying.
The audio in the giraffe section 8:18 cuts off before explaining where it comes from
In my spanish dialect (rioplatense), we usually call ladybugs "Little cow of Saint Anthony". In neutral spanish its called, mostly, "mariquita" (because of Saint Mary).
In Hebrew they are called Moses cows.
"Vaquita de San Antonio"! Wow, it's a small world!
I always wondered why so many birds are "named after their call" when I have yet to ever hear one that sounds anything like it. At best you can see the relation to the call and the number of syllables in the word.
According to National Geographies the DoDo was originally discovered by a Dutch scientist and it is Commonly called DoDo because the British were incapable of pronouncing it's Dutch name of Doya Adarius!!! 🤠👍
The question is why Elk in North America are called Moose, and why the Watapi is called "Elk" in North America. Also, the America Buffalo his named after the Eurasian Buffalo, but it should be the American bison, named after the Eurasian bison. The English speakers naming American species didn't even know all the species in Europe
been mourning the loss of my dog and two videos uploaded by you in such a short time is so helpful for me ✨✨
Very sorry for your loss
You have my sincere condolences. I wish you and yours well. 🌼🍀🍃⚱
I'm sorry to hear that.
I’ve already buried a lot of loved ones (including my girlfriend in 2016) but I still miss my cat years later. There’s this one cat on my way to the store that always comes for a little petting and it still can make me on the verge of crying.. I didn’t know human beings were able to love an animal so deeply (as I never had pets before), but nothing lasts forever I guess. Just try to think of the beautiful moments together, in my language we say something like “better to have had it than never at all”
One day you’ll be smiling at some funny dog pictures again! And a little tear from time to time isn’t a shame either. I cried out loud like a baby when I lost my cat.. a man in his late thirties 😹
I wish everyone grieving all the best ❤
Interesting how in my language we seem to have quite a few animals named after the almost literal translation of the Latin origins.
0:40 River Horse for hippopotamus, which in Dutch is nijlpaard, or Nile Horse when translated back to English.
05:18 Horned Nose for Rhinoceros, is neushoorn in Dutch, or Nose Horn when translated back to English.
8:18 I learned about etymology of giraffe few months ago, glad to see someone else is talking about it because no one really does that.
It has a bug and the video gets muted at 08:20...
You know why you never see crows hit on the road?
They always have a buddy up in the trees yelling car. Car. Car.
Just fantastic sense of humor .. delivery & timing. 💋
Pardus, if I’m not mistaken, could also mean spotted or mottled, so the name leopard might mean “spotted lion”
In modern Greek, the adjective παρδαλός (pardalos) means colorful, flashy, or with spots. It derives from pardalis, same as pardos in leopard, but not sure if the ancient Greek word had the meaning of spotted/colorful too or if it's a later development.
In Spanish, guinea pigs have two names, the most generalized one that is "conejillo de Indias" (Little rabbit of the Indies) and the one used mostly in Andean Southamerican countries, which is "cuy" (pronounced coo-ee), from the quichwa "quwi" which is an onomatopeyic etymology of the sounds the little rodents make.
I LOVE your videos. Also, awesome job on these pronunciations!
Very insightful video. Thank your research and dedication to this particular topic!💯
*Finishes inscribing on ancient parchment with quill and ink well* "Is Blue and Whale." Fascinating.
I read somewhere long ago that “ButterFLy” was a play on the phrase “FLutter By” which they do.
Please do more I love this!
In Vietnamese Dolphin is also literally translated as sea pig
Very interesting! Thank you!
"Pen-guin" from "pen" meaning "head" and "guin" meaning "white", as in the Arthurian tales, where the name of Uther Pen-dragon means Uther "Dragon's head" and the name of Guin-evere means "White Phantom" or "White Faery".
The Great Auk was named Penguin in Welsh. Southern Penguins are named after the Great Auk, which was hunted to extinction 200 years ago
Each instalment gets better. Good work AGAIN! Very humourous at the end again. 😅
This was a great video, thank you
This video is just... so good.
I love your videos so much! I watch them a lot especially your Cryptids of America and such! Thank you so much for what you do every time I watch your video I learn so much and I feel so awesome!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Imagine how excited Barn Owls were when humans invented barns!
underrated comment
@@fumomofumosarum5893 Your comment about my comment made me do a high five with my cat.
Cool video, love the funfacts :)
This was great! ❤
Mountain lions and sea lions are the same animal, with just a couple thousand feet elevation difference.
They have the high ground.
Sea lions do have the ability to slip away, though.
Bullshit, sea lions are merbears
another good one is "Right Whales", because of how slowly they moved and the fact that they float when killed, whalers would go "awe yeah, thats the right Whale you wanna go for, hey?"
and Sperm Whale, because they thought the white, oily/waxy substance in their head, called spermaceti, looking, to whalers atleast, like seman.
Thanks, I enjoyed this a lot!
:) i so enjoyed this. thank you.
in modern German, "Meerschwein" is Guinea pig. I always thought it sounded weird, because it means "sea pig" and yet they come from S. America. Actually, even the name "Guinea pig" is odd, because it has nothing to do with Equatorial Guinea or Papua New Guinea.
Thank you for sharing
My favourite is the hairy screaming armadillo, for it is a hairy armadillo that screams
A guinea pig in German is a 'little sea pig' ('Meerschweinchen') and a capybara is a 'water pig' (Wasserschwein'). Elsewhere, nobody seems to know why most European languages use porcine names for guinea pigs. They're not even from Guinea.
From what I looked up, Guinea may have been a trade centre which the rodents went through before arriving in Europe, either that or the English just used "Guinea" as a general term to describe anything foreign (it seems this sort of thing might also be where the turkey got its name, Turkish traders would often be involved in getting exotic goods to Europe, so putting "turkey" before something was used to generally refer to it as foreign).
That is if it's actually named after Guinea at all, it's also apparently posited that "guinea" is a corruption of "coney", another word for rabbit.
As for the "pig" part, guinea pigs are known to squeal like pigs. I've never heard if porcupines do as well, it does seem odd that more than one rodent wound up being named after a pig.
My favorite theory as to how so many animals get called something pig, is that they were considered pig like to eat. Guinea pig happens to be delicious.
Wonderful video!
"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? ... I don't know."
The way he said it made me lose it. 😂
Thank you, i enjoyed it!
I would think moose (moz or monz) would be refering to them shedding the velvet from their antlers, its quite the sight
I heard years ago that butterflies used to be called flutterbyes in England, I also have the balls to comment before I do an online search....old school.
I like the idea that it comes from the Dutch “boterschijte” or butter-shitter on account of the colour of their poop.
Ofc this may be just so much poppycock :D
Very popular folk etymology, the Old English is "buterflēoge" though so it can't be
@@FireoflearningThanks FOL, I will never utter this in the Mead Hall from this day forward.
ferret ("little theif") is a cool one, because in English you can also speak of "ferreting (something) out" that is, searching out with a lot of effort. Ferrets get things they want to find, clearly.
Yes walrus is seemingly coming from a germanic background - In modern day german it is called "Walross". The Wal (ger) = Whale (eng) and Ross (ger - which is an outdated expession for a Horse) = steed or hoss (but i would guess as a german native speaker that steed fits better).
And also the explanation for the Hippo does fit to german as it is called in german "Nilpferd" (literally eng: Nilehorse) or "Flusspferd" (literally english: Riverhorse).
Also the ladybug fits to german as it is called "Marienkäfer" (literally english: Mary's bug/beetle).
yep ross is steed.
trusty steed = treues ross
In Dutch we actually say "Lord bug" rather than Lady.
I can't wait to use these facts to sound really smart at the next tea party. Thanks!
In Afrikaans the Giraffe is called a "Kameelperd", literally meaning "Camel Horse"
'Be sure to enunciate' 😂 I caught that. 😂😂
Geckos in Filipino is called Tuko. Because they make sound just like that.
I love you, funny history man
Etymology lover here, very interesting to hear how some animals ended up with names they would very much consider offensive.😅 If only we could ask them what they would like to be called...
EG: the dutch word for leopard is "luipaard"
As if it wasn't bad enough to call them spotted lion(leo pardus), it morphed into "lui"(lazy)-"paard"(horse) in dutch...
🐆Look, a lazy horse!😂
You know about Etymonline, right? Some of the stories on that website are really great!
"very much consider offensive"?
no.
just no.. stop looking for ways to be offended
stop trying to prove that people suck and are so terrible at everything
go enjoy a garden
@@wrongfootmcgee
Joke from Latin iocari "to jest, joke," from iocus "joke, sport, pastime."
Hippopotamus has to be one of my favourites, partly because I'm proud I even know the etymology.
I love etymology. This is some amazing content that I will share. Thanks Justin.
Also, butterfly is a corruption of flutterby. They would literally flutter by and, as old English humor went, they swapped the first letters around and it stuck.
A spoonerism, then. I've heard this one, but wonder if there's anything to it.
This was a nice theory, but has been debunked. When you look at the name in other languages, the connection with butter, cream or milk is also frequently there.
Everyone says I'm wrong... but they can't link it to anything substantial...
@@jacob_swaggerz What would you consider substantial, then? The ancient English word being "butterfloege", as the video maker himself put somewhere, which shows that it was already composed of "butter" and "fly" before it could have been corrupted from "flutterby"?
The fact that so many other languages derive it from dairy products, even if the words don't sound anything like the English one or were formed earlier than the English "butterfly"?
What evidence would convince you?
Forgive me if you've already done it but I think a fascinating topic for a video would be the history of Hygiene/Bathing. From Rome through the Victorian era it would be interesting to explore the differences between nobility and peasantry and how often they cleaned or changed clothes.
Great video 👍
Dry wit appreciated.
The ending cracked me up
What's the font you used for the Arabic script at 8:20?
"Butterfly" is actually an Anglo-Saxon survival. We call it that because they did. The derivation seems to be from the movement of the wings, which could be said to "batter".
Is is amazing that old greek "platupous" meant flat foot. In Swedish flat is "platt" ( but also "flat")
Moose meaning "He strips off" more likely refers to the way they strip the skin from their horns every year while shedding their antlers.
just “discovered” your channel and thoroughly enjoyed this vid. your voice is cool and your little asides are more cool. :) i grinned a lot. a lot of this was new to me. i especially was so surprised and very glad to finally learn why goose are geese and moose are moose. (maybe also why deer are deer / and fish are fish).
thanks much. i’m subscribing. and have a great day :) 🌷🪻🌱
Thank you! A video on why English's plurals can be unusual is a good idea.
4:59 : Leo!
Highly underrated pets.
Also if I'm not mistaken, Moose also strip off the felt on their antlers as well
I waited for this video all my life
I always thought butterflies were called that because when you catch them by the wings the wing scales come off and have a smooth texture like butter in your hands
Small children: call animals from how they sounds
Grown ups: call animals from how they sounds
In Scotland, there are tiny, biting little fly like creatures which they call, midges.
We call them midges in (parts of?) England too
Although campers can also call them "hideous tiny monsters that come like a dark brown cloud out of the lake just as you're cooking dinner"
Was that teddy Roosevelt riding a moose??? 😂😂😂
Back when REAL MEN became President.
At one time the word "deer" was a general term for animals. Once all the other animals got their names, deer were the only ones left that were still referred to as deer.
It's similar to how the word "Dutch" (in the English language) used to mean any of the Germanic lands or people. After the other regions were given more specific names, it was just the Dutch that kept the moniker.
Cool story, bro. Didn't happen.
@@docsavage8640You've heard of google right? That's where you can find answers before you just blurt out knee jerk reactions.
I am a hunter in Germany and we do use traditional words for animals in some cases. "Deer" as in "Red Deer" is called "Rotwild" (meaning red game). If we refer to a female red deer, we call it "Tier" (same word as "deer"), which is the general term for "animal" in German.
@@highwaytohelles4561Thank you. That seems to confirm what I understand.
Very interesting video, "Fire of Learning."
I, myself, am an 'amateur' linguist: I am uncertified and have no degree or training. I have never even taken any kind of a "linguistics course"...all of my knowledge is 'hands-on' experience with little or no research in linguistics via online sources or otherwise...
I have been studying Native American languages since 1990. I 'branched out' and began studying ALL Native American languages of the entire Western Hemisphere in 2009 to the present date. I do claim to be the world's foremost expert in Native American languages...in respect to their Old World origins...
Researching Native American languages has been quite interesting to me for many many reasons. Many Native American words are derived from 'onomopoteia' (the sound something makes, such as an animal). Many many Native American words, such as "animal nouns" are based on 'behavioural characteristics' hence the word for any given animal can have quite a long, descriptive, colourful, or poetic translation.
In the words of many Native American languages, seemingly semantically dissimilar words such as "bone" and "tree" often derive from the same root. Words such as cloud, sky, sun, rain, etc. may all derive from one root. Many or all "earth-like" terms (sand, clay, stone, dirt, mountain) may derive from one root.
I have learned that to be successful in 'deciphering' Native American words and languages...you really really have to 'think' like an Amerindian, placing yourself in his animate world and his specific biome.......and really have to 'think outside the box'...
0:28 In German we say Nilpferd or Flusspferd, literally translated Nile horse or river horse.
The Greek influence is undeniable
"The Bob in bobcat is not short for Robert cat, it means 'short hair'..." My disappointment is immeasurable.
"Blue Whales are called, 'Blue Whales', because they are blue, and whales."
I love language.
Fun fact, fox pee smells like skunk, so clearly the name of skunks comes from stinky experience
Im laughing out loud so they just sat all day with koalas until they found out that they don't drink water, and then they named them, "no water"? This means that the scientific community grew up watching koalas in its free time, as if they were getting paid to do it
What happened to the audio around 8:17 (for the giraffe)?
The hidden "walrus" meaning "owl" behind "dolphin" 😳
When orangutan actually doesn't come orange
Thank you Dr. Evil