Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-03-08
NAMES OF ANIMALS.
The Meaning Some of Those Whose
ORIGIN We Can Trace.

Origin We Can Trace.
Some Of the names Of the common
est animals are lost in the dimness
of antiquity. such as fox, weasel,
sheep, horse, dog and babOOn. OF the
origin of these The clew IS forever lost
With camel one cannot go further
back than the attn word cameus, and
elephant is der we'd from the old Hin
doc word clph, which means an OK.
The old root Of the word wolf meant
one who tears or rends.
Lynx IS from the same Latin root
as the word lux Oight and probably
was given to these w dCats on ac-
count Of the fierce brightness Of their
eyes. Lion is, of course, from the
Latin leo, which word, in turn, Is lost
far back in the Egyptian tongue
where the word for the king of beasts
was labu. The compound word
leopard is first found in the Persian
language, where pars stands for pan
ther. Seal, very appropriately, was
once a word meaning of the sea; close
TO the Latin sal, the sea.
Puma, jaguar, taplr and peccary
Cfrom paquircsl are all names from
South American Indian languages.
The coyote and ocelet were called
coyotl and occlote by the Mexicans
long before Cortes landed on their
shores.
Moose is from the Indian word
mouswah, meaning wood eater;
skunk, from seganIiu, an Algonquin
term; wapIti In the Creek language
means white deer, and was originally
applied TO the Rocky mountain goat,
but the name Is now restricted to the
American elk. Caribou IS also a ma
tive Indian word; opossum IS from
possOwne, and raccoon is from the In
dian arrathkuue (hy further aphere-
sis SOON.
RhinocerOs Is pure Greek, meaning
nose horned, but beaver has indeed
had a rough time Of il in It's travels
through various languages. 1t is hard
ly recognizable as bcbrus. babru and
bru. The latter is the ultimate root
Of the English word brown. The orig
inal application was doubtless on ac-
count of the color OF the creatures
fur Otter goes back to Sanskrit,
where it Is udra The significance Of
this word is in its close kinshlp to
udan, meaning water
The little mouse hands its name
down through the years from the old,
old Sanskrij. the root meaning TO steal
The word rat may have been derived
from m" root OF the Latin word va
derc, 10 scratch. or rodere, 10 gnaw.
Rodent is derived from the latter term.
Cat is also in doubt, but IS first rec
ognized in catuluS. a diminutive OF
canis. Il dog Ii was applied to the
young Of almost any animal, as the
English words pup. kitten. cub, etc.
Bear is the result Of tongue twisting.
from the Latin fcra, wild beast.
Deer is OF OBSCURE origin, but may
have been ii. adjective. meaning wild.
Elk is derived from the same root as
Gland, Ind the history Of the latter
word is an interesting one. 1t meant
n sulfcre". AMI was applied 10y the
Trrton~ - jha ok Of the old world
on account Of the awkward gait and
stiff movements OF this ungainly AMI
mai
Squirrel has a poetic origin in the
Grael, language its original meaning
being shadow tail. Tiger is far more
intricate The old Persian word tIr
meant arrow. while tighra slgnifed
sharp. Tie application to this great
animal was In allusion to the swiftness
with which the lgrr leaps upon its
prey Detroit News Tribune