Megan Tunon

ESL 4

Origins of Animal Names

Alligator- from the Spanish name El Lagarto meaning the lizard
Beetle- from the Middle English word betylle, from Old English bitula; akin to btan to bite
Caterpillar- from Middle English catyrpel, from Anglo-French *catepelose, literally, hairy cat
Cobra- from the Portuguese cobra (de capello), literally, hooded snake, from Latin colubra snake
Crocodile- from Middle English & Latin; Middle English cocodrille, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin
cocodrillus, alteration of Latin crocodilus, from Greek krokodilos lizard, crocodile, from krok shingle,
pebble + drilos worm; akin to Sanskrit arkara pebble
Duck- from Middle English duk, doke, from Old English dce
Elephant- from Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French olifant, elefant, from L.
elephantus, from Greek elephant-, elephas
Hippopotamus- from Latin, from Greek hippopotamos, alteration of hippos potamios, literally, riverine
horse
Leopard- from Middle English, from Anglo-French lepart, leupart, from Late Latin leopardus, from Greek
leopardos, from len lion + pardos leopard
Lobster- from Middle English, from Old English loppestre, from loppe spider
Moose- from of Algonquian origin; akin to Massachusett moos moose
Octopus- from New Latin Octopod-, Octopus, from Greek oktpous
Porpoise- from Middle English porpoys, from Anglo-French porpeis, from Medieval Latin porcopiscis, from
Latin porcus pig + piscis fish
Rhinoceros- from Middle English rinoceros, from Anglo-French, from Latin rhinocerot-, rhinoceros, from
Greek rhinokert-, rhinokers, from rhin- + keras horn
Spider-from Middle English spyder, alteration of spithre; akin to Old English spinnan to spin
Squirrel- from Middle English squirel, from Anglo-French escurel, esquirel, from Vulgar Latin *scuriolus,
diminutive of scurius, alteration of Latin *sciurus, from Greek skiouros, probably from skia shadow + oura
tail
Penguin- obsolete English penguin great auk, perhaps from Welsh pen gwyn white head (applied to the
bird in winter plumage)
Porcupine- from Middle English porke despyne, from Middle French porc espin, from Old Italian
porcospino,
Walrus- from Dutch, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Dan & Norwegian hvalros walrus, Old Norse
rosmhvalr Latin porcus pig + spina spine, prickle
Informaiton taken from the Miram-Webster Dictionary Online at http://www.merriam-webster.com/