RE: Who you calling a turkey?
RE: http://blogs.current.com/comedy/2009/11/25/who-you-calling-a-turkey/
I've discovered more things about the naming of the so-called turkey.
The reason the English word for Meleagris gallopavo is because when turkeys were brought back to the old world, they were transported from from present day Turkey in the Ottoman Empire. They called these birds Turkey Fowl. Eventually they shortened it to it's present name.
This bird's strange appearance, has made people think the bird is exotic. People only knew where they got the bird from, so they presumed that it was from that country, and named it after that country.
In Greek gallopoulameans French Chicken.
In French poulet d’inde means Chicken of India.
The Portuguese word is Peru as in the South American nation.
In Malay, it is called either Ayam Piru from the Portuguese or Ayam Belanda which translates as Dutch chicken.
In Dutch they use the word kalkoen, which is derived from Calicut, a city in the Indian state of Kerala.
In Turkey they call the bird hindi because it relates to India.
And when you get to Vietnam, which is traditionally thought of as the exotic far east, they translate the bird as gà tây, “Western chicken”.
A reason that the New World bird is associated with the 'exotic east' is because people thought the Americas were actually part of Asia.
In parts of Eastern Asia, at least they get creative with their names for Guajolote. In Chinese 火鸡 means "fire chicken." The Japanese, シチメンチョウ / 七面鳥 and Korean 칠면조 / 七面鳥 mean "seven-faced bird."
This is a list of languages that saw the indigenous American poultry, and so these names are appropriate words for Meleagris gallopavo.
I want to give partial credit to Farsi who named the bird after it's onomatopoeic word بوقلمون, "Boogalamoon."
That is a lot of names for one bird. Which one do you like the best?
Read em all: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_for_the_Wild_Turkey
I've discovered more things about the naming of the so-called turkey.
The reason the English word for Meleagris gallopavo is because when turkeys were brought back to the old world, they were transported from from present day Turkey in the Ottoman Empire. They called these birds Turkey Fowl. Eventually they shortened it to it's present name.
This bird's strange appearance, has made people think the bird is exotic. People only knew where they got the bird from, so they presumed that it was from that country, and named it after that country.
In Greek gallopoulameans French Chicken.
In French poulet d’inde means Chicken of India.
The Portuguese word is Peru as in the South American nation.
In Malay, it is called either Ayam Piru from the Portuguese or Ayam Belanda which translates as Dutch chicken.
In Dutch they use the word kalkoen, which is derived from Calicut, a city in the Indian state of Kerala.
In Turkey they call the bird hindi because it relates to India.
And when you get to Vietnam, which is traditionally thought of as the exotic far east, they translate the bird as gà tây, “Western chicken”.
A reason that the New World bird is associated with the 'exotic east' is because people thought the Americas were actually part of Asia.
In parts of Eastern Asia, at least they get creative with their names for Guajolote. In Chinese 火鸡 means "fire chicken." The Japanese, シチメンチョウ / 七面鳥 and Korean 칠면조 / 七面鳥 mean "seven-faced bird."
This is a list of languages that saw the indigenous American poultry, and so these names are appropriate words for Meleagris gallopavo.
- In Blackfoot, it is called ómahksipi'kssíí, meaning “big bird”.
- In Lakota, it is waglekšun.
- In Miami, it is nalaaohki pileewa, meaning “native fowl”.
- In Ojibwe, it is mizise
- In Passamaquoddy, it is nem.
- In Central Mexico it is guajolote from the Nahuatl hueyxolotl.
- In Mayan it is called chumpipe.
I want to give partial credit to Farsi who named the bird after it's onomatopoeic word بوقلمون, "Boogalamoon."
That is a lot of names for one bird. Which one do you like the best?
Read em all: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_for_the_Wild_Turkey
