Pleco, ibex and platypus - How well do you know animal names in your target language?
I've been using the app Pleco for years and never wondered why they use the Chinese character (鱼) for "fish" in their app logo. Only to find out today that "pleco" is a fish.
That's the explanation from the Placo website: "We pronounce it with a long E, like plee-co, which means we should probably type it with a macron (but that just looks silly). It’s the nickname of a type of aquarium catfish (scientific name Hypostomus plecostomus) that Michael had several of when he was a kid, a stylized example of which graces our company logo. We think it’s actually supposed to be pronounced pleck-o but he’s been saying it the other way since he was 10 and he’s not changing it now."
So, not only did I not know the real meaning of the name, I also pronounced it wrongly all the time. But hey, I had many debates with other users on how to pronounce "italki".
Before you judge me for not knowing the meaning of "pleco", which in this case is a "suckermouth catfish", well, do you know this word in any of your target languages? "Saugmaulwels" in German, anyone? The Chinese names of this fish are quite interesting:
下口鲇 xiàkǒu nián biting catfish
琵琶鼠 pípa shǔ Pipa mouse (pipa is a Chinese string instrument)
垃圾鱼 lājī yú garbage fish
I somehow find it funny that in one language it's a "catfish" and in another it's a "mouse". Btw, none of these names is in my Pleco dictionary. When it only shows 鲇 for "catfish". When looking for "pleco" it only shows the Chinese transciption of the company name (普利科).
"Ibex" is another animal name I only just found this week. The German translation "Steinbock" also means "capricorn". I never knew that "capricorn" is only the zodiac and not the actual animal. In Chinese, the animal is called 羱羊 (yuányáng). Not to be mixed up with the mandarin duck 鸳鸯 (yuāngyang).
I've known the word "platypus" for quite a while since I like these animals very much but have to say that I find the name very odd. It derives from Latin and means "flat-footed". I'd prefer the outdated word "duckmole" because it seems to be a quite fitting descriptio of the different characteristics of this animal. In German it's Schnabeltier (bill animal), in Chinese 鸭嘴兽 (yāzuǐ shòu, duck-billed animal).
Do you know of any other strange animal names or animal names you only recently found in your target language, even though the words are very common in your native tongue?
