TheU.S.Thanksgivingholidayissymbolizedbyitstraditionalfood,alargebirdwecallaturkey.ButturkeyiscertainlynotfromTurkey.
Infact,itsEnglishnameisbasedononebigmistake.Wecouldsayitisacaseofmistakenidentity.
Let’ssettherecordstraight.
Theword“Turkey”hasmeant“thelandoftheTurks”sinceancienttimes.Theword“turkey”asitreferstothebirdfirstappearedintheEnglishlanguageinthemid-1500s.
Themisunderstandingoverthewordhappenedbecauseoftwosimilar-lookingkindsofbirds.
ThereisanAfricanbirdcalledtheguineafowl.Ithasdarkfeatherswithwhitespotsandapatchofbrownonthebackofitsneck.PortuguesetradersbroughttheguineafowltoEuropethroughNorthAfrica.
ThisforeignbirdcametoEuropethroughTurkishlands.So,theEnglishthoughtofthebirdasa“Turkishchicken.”
WhenEuropeanscametoNorthAmerica,theysawabirdthatlookedliketheguineafowl.ThisbirdwasnativetotheNorthAmericancontinent.
OrinHargravesisalexicographer,someonewhowritesdictionaries.Hargravesexplainswhathappened.
“SomeEuropeanssawanAmericanturkey,thoughtthatitwastheguineafowl,whichatthattimewascalledthe‘turkeycock,’andsogaveitthesamename."
Hundredsofyearslater,wecontinuetocallthisNorthAmericanbird“turkey,”eventhoughithasnoconnectionatallwiththecountryTurkey,orevenwithEurope.
ButEnglishisnottheonlylanguagewithinteresting--andevenquestionable--namesforthisNorthAmericanbird.
TheTurkish,fortheirpart,callturkey“hindi,”theTurkishnameforIndia.ThereferencetoIndiaprobablycomesfromtheold,wrongideathattheNewWorldwasinEasternAsia.
TheFrenchcallit“dinde,”anamethatalsoconnectsthebirdtoIndia.“D’Inde”means“fromIndia”intheFrenchlanguage.“Turkey”hassimilarnamesinseveralotherlanguages.
So,whatdotheycallthisNorthAmericanbirdinIndia?Well,intheHindilanguage,“turkey”is“tarki.”
Butwait,there’smore.InPortuguese,thesamebirdiscalled“Peru,”aftertheSouthAmericannation.
ThankstoourVOALearningEnglishFacebookfriends,wehaveafewmorenamesfor“turkey”tosharewithyou.
TheVietnamesewordforthebirdis“gàtây”orwesternchicken.OurFacebookfriendNguyenDucexplainsthat“localchickenissmallerthanwesternchicken.”
AFacebookfriendinMyanmarexplainedthattheBurmesewordfor“turkey”is“kyatsin.”Thenametranslatesto“elephantchicken”inEnglish.
“Thatanimallookslikeabigchicken,”ZawMyoWinexplained.
TheDarilanguagenameforthebird,"felmurgh"alsotranslatesto“elephantchicken.”
AbdullaKawerexplainedtousthat“hereinAfghanistanthisnamerepresentsthesizeofthisdeliciousmeal.”Headdsthathethinksthedescriptivename“elephantchicken”is“betterthanacountryname.”
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