The whippoorwill is another obvious one. Hmm... is this kind of naming most common in birds?
Jane On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Emily R. Whitmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There's also the Tokay gecko in SE Asia. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Carrie DeJaco" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU > Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 12:17:18 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Onomatopoeia animal names > > How about the Puerto Rican "coqui"? > > Carrie > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Nancy E. Karraker > Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 11:58 AM > To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Onomatopoeia animal names > > Hi Warren, > Two examples I can think of are "kodok," which is the Indonesian word > for frog, probably representing the call of a common species. "Wah" with > a rising tone is the Cantonese word for frog, and I speculate represents > the sound made by the Asiatic painted frog, a common species in that > region which emits a rising bellow. > > Nancy > > Quoting Phil Novack-Gottshall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > Warren, > > > > I don't know of any studies, but it sounds like an interesting topic. > > > With credit to Greg Wray, a fantastic bird example is the hoopoe, with > > > the binomen "Upupa epops," supposedly based on its bird-call. > > > > Phil > > > > At 04:21 PM 4/19/2008, you wrote: > > Is anyone aware of a comprehensive study or report on the onomatopoeia > > > of animal names? > > > > Of course their are obvious examples such as chickadee, crow, > > kookaburra, katydid, cuckoo. And it seems there may be other less > > obvious examples in English and other languages, e.g., duck, cow > > (Latin bos, German kuh), titmouse (Scandinavian titt), pig (Latin > sui), owl (Latin ulula). > > > > I also remember running across a speculation that human language may > > have first evolved as a means of communicating the presence of animals > > > (imagine a proto-hominid running back to his clan calling out > > "Woo-woo" = wolf = vulpe = lobo). > > > > And can you come up with other possible examples? > > > > Warren W. Aney > > Senior Wildlife Ecologist > > Tigard, Oregon > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Phil > > Novack-Gottshall [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > Assistant Professor > > Department of Geosciences > > University of West Georgia > > Carrollton, GA 30118-3100 > > Phone: 678-839-4061 > > Fax: 678-839-4071 > > http://www.westga.edu/~pnovackg <http://www.westga.edu/%7Epnovackg> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Nancy E. Karraker, Ph.D. > Postdoctoral Fellow > Division of Ecology and Biodiversity > University of Hong Kong > Pokfulam Road > Hong Kong, China > Phone: +852-2299-0678 > E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. student, University of Georgia co-founder, <a href="http://www.worldbeyondborders.org";>World Beyond Borders</a> Check out my blog, <a href="http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com";>Perceiving Wholes</a> "But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy." --Plutarch, c.46-c.120 AD
