False friends
snog (Danish) grass snake
asp (Pahlavi, Iran) horse
dud (Arabic) caterpillar, worm
formica (Latin) ant
hunt (Estonian) wolf
hunt (Yiddish) dog
lamb (Amharic, Ethiopia) cow
long (Chinese) dragon
moron (Munduruku, Brazil) toad
the dream of cats is all about mice
When humans looked around them and saw the animals that inhabited their world they often came up with names that described what each animal looked or sounded like, or how it behaved. Among the Amerindian tribes the Navaho word for squirrel is the phrase ‘it has a bushy tail’ and the word from the Arapaho for elephant is ‘it has a bent nose’. The Mingo language was particularly expressive in this regard:
uæhkwёönyö’ a peacock (literally, it puts suns all over it)
teyunö’kêôot a sheep (literally, it’s got two horns attached)
kёötanёhkwi a horse (literally, it hauls logs)
teka’nyakáíte’ a mole (literally, both of its hands are slanted)
tewathsistúkwas a firefly (literally, it scatters sparks)
tsyúwё’staka’ a seagull (literally, it is known for being around sea-foam)
uthёhtææhtáne’ a caterpillar (literally, its fuzz itches)
teyu’skwææt a bull (literally, two standing stones – referring to the bull’s testicles)
Likewise, when Chinese voyagers first saw the kangaroo they described the way it looked to them: dai shu, pocket rat, or great rat with a pocket. The Yoruba of West Africa, unused to zebras, called them ‘striped horses’. The Indian nations of the Americas were astounded at the sight of the horse when it appeared, brought by the early Spanish conquerors. The Aztecs thought it was a hornless deer. The Sioux named it shuñka wakãn, supernatural dog, and the Cheyenne referred to it as mo-eheno’ha, domesticated elk. Another animal new to the Cheyenne, the pig, joined their language as eshkoseesehotame, dog with sharp nose.
snog (Danish) grass snake
asp (Pahlavi, Iran) horse
dud (Arabic) caterpillar, worm
formica (Latin) ant
hunt (Estonian) wolf
hunt (Yiddish) dog
lamb (Amharic, Ethiopia) cow
long (Chinese) dragon
moron (Munduruku, Brazil) toad
Those peoples living closely with animals developed vocabulary to describe all sorts of precisely observed behaviour on land…
vweluka (Mambwe, Zambia) to jump from branch to branch (said of a monkey)
gigigigigi (Tsonga, South Africa) to stand about dispersed and all looking intently at something in the distance, as cattle seeing a lion
telki (Swahili) the quick ambling gait of a donkey, half walk, half run
thakgantse (Setswana, Botswana) to kick in all directions (as an ox when one leg is held by a thong)
glamarsaich (Gaelic) the noisy lapping (as of a hungry dog)
shebwoso (Potawatomi, USA) a rabbit running fast
… of fish and other creatures at sea:
tekab (Maguindanaon, Philippines) a fish opening its mouth and producing
bubbles
siponaina (Yamana, Chile) to go along on the surface of the water and cause a ripple, as fish do
aiagata (Yamana, Chile) to rise up on end and take a deep dive, as the whale when it raises up its flukes
itupi (Mambwe, Zambia) dead fish found floating
hu-q-a (Nuuchahnulth, Canada) a salmon going along with its dorsal fin out of the water
… and of birds and insects on the ground and in the air:
abhinibbijjhati (Pali, India) to break quite through (said of the chick coming through the shell of the egg)
magaatu (Yamana, Chile) to tuck the head under the wing, as birds do when composed for sleep
ava-sam-dīna (Sanskrit) the united downward flight of birds
khpa (Dakota, USA) to be wet or clogged, as mosquitos’ wings with dew
tikutamoamo (Gilbertese, Oceania) to alight everywhere (of a dragonfly)
Some actions are common to many creatures:
kwe-swanta (Ganda, Uganda) to lick one’s chops when one has not had enough to eat
kengerhele (Tsonga, South Africa) to stop suddenly in surprise, be on the alert, as animals hearing a noise
kukuta (Swahili) to shake off water after getting wet, in the way a bird or dog does
zeula (Kalanga, Botswana) the chewing of animals late at night
hachistitabatli (Alabama, USA) to beat the tail on the ground
imba (Mambwe, Zambia) to tear away the prey from one another, as animals fighting over food
There are words for sounds too, even those surely heard only by those who live cheek by jowl with the fauna of the world:
pasáw (Tagalog, Philippines) the noise offish wriggling in the water
rerejat (Iban, Sarawak and Brunei) the noise made by a cricket on landing
kíchchu (Tamil) the chirping of birds; the whining of infants
ekkaranam (Tamil) a noise which a bull makes when about to attack another
saratata (Buli, Ghana) the sound and behaviour of running animals (leaving a trail of dust in the air)
tyaka-tyaka (Tsonga, South Africa) the noise of cattle crashing through dry bush
gungurhu-gungurhu-gungurhu (Tsonga, South Africa) to clatter like a rat trapped in a box
andala (Arabic) the song of the nightingale
atit (Arabic) the moaning bray of a camel
inchasàaya (Alabama, USA) a rattlesnake’s rattle
There are words to describe the most detailed aspects of an animal’s appearance…
scory (Scots) the wrinkled texture of a hedgehog’s cheeks
gansuthi (Boro, India) the first-grown feather of a bird’s wing
kapy-āsa (Sanskrit) the buttocks of an ape
sondi (Pali, India) the neck of a tortoise
sprochaille (Irish) the loose fold of skin between the legs of a turkey
mokadi (Setswana, Botswana) the fat of a bullfrog
kuris (Manobo, Philippines) the fortune of a chicken written
in the scales of its feet
… how they store their food:
brá
a-hola (Old Icelandic) a hole where the wild beasts carry their prey
wakhedan (Dakota, USA) the places from which squirrels dig up food
achnátus (Karuk, North America) a place where a rat stores its food
tsembetuta (Chichewa, Malawi) a type of mouse known for saving food for the future
indagitagan (Ojibway, North America) the place where a wild animal goes to eat in the woods
… even how they behave in specific and group ways:
kekerikaki (Gilbertese, Oceania) a fish which sometimes swims backwards
teosammul (Estonian) the speed of a snail
atiqtuq (Ifiupiat, Inuit) bears going down to the sea
wosdohedan (Dakota, USA) paths made by squirrels in the grass
pe’mkowe’t (Potawatomi, USA) bear tracks in the snow
lantar (Iban, Sarawak and Brunei) the skidmark left on a riverbank by a boat or crocodile sliding into the water
Originally, humans began by treating animals as hostile, to be hunted, chased away or killed:
phongoloxa (Tsonga, South Africa) to throw stones or sticks at an animal to frighten it away
p’isqeyay (Quechuan, Andes) to scare off birds
khapela (Tsonga, South Africa) to drive animals into another’s land so that they may do damage there
bohnaskinyan (Dakota, USA) to make an animal crazy or furious by shooting
phitsisitse (Setswana, Botswana) to kill an insect by crushing it between the finger and thumb
But then came the thought of using certain breeds to their advantage:
nanagi (Rapanui, Easter Island) to mark a chicken as one’s property by biting one of its toes
piya (Kalanga, Botswana) to hold a goat’s leg under one’s knee while milking it
verotouaire (Gallo, France) a woman who helps a boar (vero) to copulate with the sow (tree)
féaunu-mar (Old Icelandic) a man lucky with his sheep
With this came a new range of calls and cries:
ouk (British Columbian dialect, Canada) a command to a sledge-dog to turn right
koosi (Buli, Ghana) to call chickens by smacking one’s tongue
cethreinwr (Welsh) someone who walks backwards, in front of an ox, prompting it with a combination of a song and a sharp stick
The Scots, in particular, have a fine collection of animal instructions:
irrnowt a shepherd’s call to his dog to pursue cattle
who-yauds a call to dogs to pursue horses
iss a call to a dog to attack
hut a call to a careless horse
re a call to a horse to turn to the right
shug a call to a horse to come to the hand
In these days of intense email use, it seems amazing that there is still no official name for @. It is generally called the ‘at’ symbol. Other languages have come up with all kinds of mostly animal nicknames. Polish calls it malpa, monkey; in Afrikaans it is aapstert, monkey’s tail; in German it is Klammeraffe, clinging monkey; and in Dutch it is apeklootje, little monkey’s
As does the Pashto language of Afghanistan and Pakistan:
|
drhey |
when addressing sheep |
|
eekh eekh |
when addressing camels |
|
asha asha |
when addressing donkeys |
|
aw aw |
when addressing oxen |
|
tsh tsh |
when addressing horses |
|
kutsh kutsh |
when addressing dogs |
testicle. The Finns and Swedes see it as a cat curled up with its tail. Swedish has kattsvans, and Finnish has at least three names for this idea: kissanhäntä, cat tail, miaumerkki, meow sign, and miukumauku, which means something like meow-meow. In French, Korean, Indonesian, Hebrew and Italian it’s a snail. In Turkish (kulak) and Arabic (uthun) it’s an ear, in Spanish it’s an elephant’s ear (elefantora), in Danish it’s an elephant’s trunk (snabel), and elsewhere:
zavinac (Czech) pickled herring
xiao lao-shu (Taiwanese) little mouse
kukac (Hungarian) worm or maggot
sobachka (Russian) little dog
papaki (Greek) duckling
grisehale (Norwegian) curly pig’s tail
kanelbulle (Swedish) cinnamon roll
gul (Turkish) rose
In the Gallo dialect in France there is some very specific vocabulary about ensuring that there are always enough eggs:
un anijouet an egg left in a hen’s nest to encourage it to lay ore in the same place
chaponner to stick a finger up a chicken’s bottom to see if it is laying an egg
It’s hardly surprising that that species thought of as closest to humans is described in the most loving detail:
agkew (Manobo, Philippines) to try to snatch food which is hung up out of each (said of a dog)
manàntsona (Malagasy, Madagascar) to smell or sniff before entering a house, as a dog does
ihdaśna (Dakota, USA) to miss in biting oneself, as a dog trying to bite its own tail
kwiiua-iella (Yamana, Chile) to bite and leave, as a dog does with a strong animal it cannot kill
amulaw (Bikol, Philippines) the barking of dogs in pursuit of game
Our second favourite animal is less loyal and more selfish, but brings us luck if it crosses our path:
lapin de gouttière (French) a cat (literally, roof-gutter rabbit)
echafoureré (Gallo, France) a tickled cat hiding under a table or chair
bilāra-nissakkana (Pali, India) large enough for a cat to creep through
amotόm (Cheyenne, USA) to carry something in the mouth (said especially of a mother cat)
bvoko (Tsonga, South Africa) to spring unsuccessfully at or after, as a cat springs at a mouse which just saves itself
Next up has to be the one that has always helped us get around, and has also let us experience speed, excitement and other less welcome sensations:
asvatthāma (Sanskrit) having the strength of a horse
lekgetla (Setswana, Botswana) the droop of the ears of a tired horse
dzádintsu (Telugu, India) to flap about as a horse does his tail, to reprove by speech
cagailt (Gaelic) a roll of chewed grass in a horse’s mouth
ibiihokcho (Alabama, USA) to pass gas in someone’s face (as a horse will)
Fourth on our list is free to roam in India, enjoying its sacred status, while elsewhere it offers sustenance of more than one kind:
kárámpasu (Tamil) a cow whose udder is black, held in great esteem by the Hindus
nyakula (Lozi, Niger-Congo) to try to untie itself by kicking (as a cow tied up by its legs)
silehile (Lozi, Niger-Congo) to besmirch with dung the teats of a cow which refuses to be milked, in order to keep its calf away
deothas (Gaelic) the longing or eagerness of a calf for its mother
clardingo (Welsh) to flee in panic from a warble-fly (said of a herd of cows)
gokuradiya (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) the water in a hole made by a cow’s hoof
We rarely see our fifth and last away from a zoo or safari park, but in the wild this creature certainly lives up to the poet’s description as ‘Nature’s great masterpiece’:
dvi-pa (Sanskrit) an elephant (literally, drinking twice – with his trunk and his mouth)
gagau (Malay) an elephant picking up with its trunk
polak (Hindi) straw tied to the end of a bamboo stick which is used to frighten and restrain a furious elephant
isīkā (Sanskrit) an elephant’s eyeball
tun-mada (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) an elephant in rut, alluding to the three liquids which exude from him in the rutting season, namely from his temples, his eyes and his penis
And then there are those others that we admire, but generally only from a distance:
arspag (Gaelic) the largest seagull
tihunyi (Tsonga, South Africa) a crested cuckoo which sings before the rains and reminds people to collect firewood
jimbi (Luvale, Zambia) a bird which does not yet sing
sarad (Manobo, Philippines) to fly low, at about the height of a coconut palm
Swahili advises us not to curse the crocodile before we’ve crossed the river and there are all kinds of similar warnings from around the world about not being too hasty:
mithl ilh yibi’ samak fi al bahar (Arabic) it’s like selling fish still in the sea
man skal ikke sælge skindet, før bjørnen er skudt (Danish) one should not sell the fur before the bear has been shot
älä nuolaise ennen kuin pöydällä tipahtaa (Finnish) don’t start licking it up before it drops onto the table
guthimba ti kuura (Kikuyu, Kenya) having rain clouds is not the same as having rain
na neroden Petko kapa mu skroile (Macedonian) they sewed a hat to Peter who is not born yet
tsiplyat po oseni schitayut (Russian) one should count chicks in autumn
ne govori gop, poka ne pereskochish (Russian) don’t say hop until you jumped over
ino manga ondjupa ongombe inaayi vala (Ndonga, Namibia) don’t hang the churning calabash before the cow has calved
non dire gatto se non l’hai nel sacco (Italian) never say ‘cat’ if you have not got it in your sack
dereyi görmeden paçalan sivama (Turkish) do not roll up your trouser legs before you see the stream