Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-01-21
ONOMATOPEIA.
How Birds and Animals Get Their Strange
and Curious Names, According to Their
characteristics.

/ CharacteristieS.
We are inclined to look upon the state
of the first man as one peculiarly pleas
ant and devoid of care. says the Pitts
burg Dispatch. Before Eve was made.
and the consequent trouble came upon
Adam, he seemingly had very little TO
do beyond eat, sleep, and enjoy the
scenery But a little investigation
shows that he had job laid out for him
which must have taxed his ingenuity to
its utmost Genesis H., 1920, says that
the animals were all passed in review
before him to see what he would call
them. Eve was at this time yet attached
to his spinal column and could not as
sist at the work. She would have
lightened his labor very much, as wo-
men are very expert at calling names
usually.
Being not much acquainted with the
habits of his animal compatriots, he
must have had difficulty in giving them
suitable names-indeed, in giving them
any names whatever. The difficulty
may be appreciated by any one-eyen
with our present knowledge of the ami
NAL kingdom who viii endeavor to re-
cite the well-known names Of our most
common animals. If one will try to re-
peat the names of forty animals he will
find it takes him four or five minutes
Think what a task it was to not only re-
peat but invent names for all the animals,
the birds, fishes, and reptiles
What he called them will never be
known, because we do not know what
language he spoke. We have our En-
glish names for all animals-that is, all
OF the more common ones. Some of
them have no names with us except the
Latin scientific one by which they are
known by naturalists.
just how objects get names is an in
teresting thing to trace. Among ami
mails and plants the scientific name is
easy enough to account for, because men
who study the classification and ar
rangement into genera and species. de-
liberately set about naming the new OBJ
ject from some popularity, but if it
should happen that some entirely new
animal appeared, who would 90 about
giving it a name by which those not
familiar with science might call itp
Who was it who first called our beast of
burden horse, and why was it called
horsep Why not just as well have said
pig or cowP Nearly every word has
history which explains the reasons of
its existence?
There are many names which bear
their reason upon their faces, as black
bird, woodpecker, hy-catcher, OYSTER
catcher pinch-bug, tomato-worm, and q
host of others. Then there are a large
number whose names are easily UNDER
stood, because the words used in describ-
ing them are onomatopetic, that is, the
word in its sound in Il measure repre-
sents some action of the animal. Ex-
amples of such are humming-bird, bum
ble-bee, name corrupted from humble
bee, probably so called from its habit of
storing its honey in the ground. Hoot-
owl is another, and screech-owl.
A great many animals have English
names which are captured from some
other language. The word bear is
Dutch The early English took this
word, but pronounced it bera, and rs it
came down it became weather-beaten
and changed by us into bear. Alligator
is another word which could not stand
the twist of the English tongue. When
the Spaniards landed there and saw this
greatest of lizards they at once reeog-
nized its place in nature and called J.
ei ldgdrto, or the lizard. 1t can be cas-
ily seen how English sailors. hearing
this term constantly, brought the words
home, but not beng familiar with
Spanish, the two words were blended
and elagarto, was the result, which has
since ''weatheredn into alligator, its
present form.
Hawk, in old English. was spelled
hafoc, meaning havoc. A good idea is
thus given of the birds habits, just rs
the raven expresses greed. We say
ravenous to this day.
The names sometimes mislead. as in
the case of our turkey. The inference
here IS that Turkey is the native home
of the bird, when in truth it is bird
peculiarly our own. The French fell
into like error They supposed it came
from India, and called it "a 'Indes
There is a great deal of lore stored up
in single word at times. The name
for the kingfisher in ancient times was
the Greek halcyon, and it is still so
called, although we have long ago
learned the fallacy of It's name They
thought the sen became calm and con-
tinued SO while this bird brooded over
its nest, which was supposed to float
upon the water. We call calm, happy
days halcyon days, and it is poetic, even
if the cold, prosy facts do not bear out
the idea.
The way word changes It's appear
ance is shown in our word redngote
This word was first an English word,
and was nothing more than a gentle
mans riding coat This garment be-
came the fashion in Paris. where they
tried to pronounce it, and, after being
considerably altered, came back to Lon
don as garment for ladies, with the
difference in spelling.
The history of words is not always to
be relied upon, as shown by our words
turkey and pheasant The original
pheasant came from the river Phasis,
and the fancied resemblance of our
grouse fastened this name to it.
Those who first saw the leopard with
its spotted coat attempted to account
for it by supposing that it had lion
leo-and the giraffe or cameleopard for
parents, calling the result of this most
improbable union the leopard.
Any one who has watched the festive
goat has remarked how sudden and I'M
accountable are his movements He
seems to have no settled idea as TO lust
what he wants to do. Capra is the
Latin word for goat, and from this we
have caper and capricious- goat like.
This gives vigor and vividness to the
world. In view of the goats penchant
for circus bills, old rags, and labels of
fruit cans as articles of diet, the express
sion "a capricious appetite is full of
force.
How well the words, ''he is acting the
possum," signifies that one is pretend
ing something he does not feell Nearly
every one has seen the 'possum simulate
death on receiving a slight blow, and
has also noticed that he keeps an eye
to the main chance, and is ready to
jumpup and run away.
How full of meat is the slang. Mon
key business, or don't monkey with
this or that A vision of the very tricky.
unreliable, and amusing little beast is
at once called up. What can excite the
ire OF man, especially one of the
species dude, more quickly than to
speak of him as puppy? 1t is full of
contempt.
While there is nothing more beautiful
and more pleasant to the cultivated ear
than good, pure language, yet there is
certainly a strong temptation to use
slang phrases. They express so much in
such strong manner. Slang is the
language of the common people who