"Hippopotamus" literally means "river horse" though https://twitter.com/XiranJayZhao/status/1316076159315005442 …
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Wooow? Meer Schwein (german: sea pig) are guinea pigs. Sooo confusing.
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Because... sailors used to eat them?
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The word "dolphin" itself is kind of an interesting word "Delphos" in Greek means "womb", hence "adelphos" ("same womb") meaning "sibling" and "philadelphia" meaning "brotherly love" "Delphine" therefore means "has a womb", because dolphins are mammals with uteruses
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So "delphine" itself is one of those terms that entered English to mean being graceful and lissome in a liquid feminine way (especially if you're Kim Stanley Robinson) But technically it just means you have a uterus Ha ha it's a TERF word
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I am...extremely confused by the dolphin/pig association, although amusingly it's apparently not necessarily that far off evolutionary ancestors-wise?
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They make similar squealing noises when they come up for air
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So... the origin of Grampus or Grampus Whale?
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Apparently "Grampus" is just the result of someone in English slurring the Latin "grandis piscis" ("big fish")? Look new words can't all be clever
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Funny thing, Danes use "marsvin" (mereswine) for porpoises ... and for guinea pigs. I have never figured out why Danish uses the same word for two very different animals
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