Llama, what's your name? (Spanish/Quechuan)
Apparently the llama owns its name to the Spanish phrase ¿Cómo se llama? When the Spanish discovered America they asked the indigenous people for the name of this animal using the phrase ¿Cómo se llama? What do you call this? The indigineous people didn't understand and repeated the last word llama, llama. So the Spanish finally thought the animal's name is llama. Or so I've been told. Nice story anyway.
Editorial note: Very nice, but not quite accurate. In fact the expression llama was there before the Spanish arrived. It's of Quechuan origin and was borrowed by many languages, together with other Quechuan words such as condor or puma.
Sent by: Ben
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I work at a wildlife park, where we do indeed have llamas. A co-worker of mine told me this was how llamas received their name. It was a pretty interesting fact, but I'm glad I decided to research before passing it along to park guests. Thanks for the info! :D
As a Belgian native, I was interested to find out that Flemish translates into flamenco in Spanish. Why is that? Is there a connection with folklore?
I have just read the above explanation of Avon and it reminded me of the famous Lancashire Pendle Hill. When the Saxons arrived, they asked the native Welsh what the hill was called to which they responded pen meaning headland or hill. They liked the name and called it Pen Dell meaning Pen Hill. Finally the Vikings arrived with their Scandinavian tongue from which we get the modern English word Hill - you've guessed it - Pendle Hill, so good they named it thrice!
This is of course the reason why we have so many river Avons in England. Apparently, the Anglo-Saxons were rotten linguists and when they first arrived they pointed to a river with an enquiring look and the locals said Afon (British, now Welsh for river). It has always puzzled me why the new arrivals were satisfied with the same answer to each enquiry.
Yucatán is not from the Nahuatl language (which by the way is not a dialect) but a Mayan word as the peninsula of Yucatán was populated by the Maya who still live there in great number, not the Aztec who spoke Nahuatl and were also known as Mexica, hence the name of the country: Mexico.
The yearly festival in Melbourne, Australia, is called Moomba and at the height of its popularity hundreds of thousands of people attended the Moomba parades. Moomba is touted as meaning "Let's get together and have fun".
It is widely understood that when the original organisers wanted to name the festival they visited an old Aboriginal elder and asked him what they should call their festival. His reply was Moomba!
We are now told that this actually translates as something very similar to "Up your bum!"
Editor's note: Moomba indeed creates some confusion among the linguists. The word moom, mum, means also "bottom" in some Victorian Aboriginal languages, eg. in Wemba
Wemba. Ba is a suffix meaning "at" or "in".
There is a story about the animal kangaroo. Discoverers asked the native people of Australia, how the animal was called. But the natives didn't understand the discoverers and to themselves said kangaroo. In the native language it meant 'I don't understand you'.
Editor's note: Indeed there is a myth around the word kangaroo coming from an Aboriginal word meaning 'I don't know'. Very nice, but not quite accurate. In fact the expression kangaroo was there before the Europeans arrived. It is borrowed from the word gangurru which is found in the Aboriginal language of Guugu Yimidhirr and means - kangaroo. It was first recorded in 1770 by Captain James Cook.
In Mexico there is a place called Yucatán. This name was given when a Spanish conquistador asked a native person for the name of the region.
The answer was: 'Yucatán'. Which actually means: 'I'm not from around here'.
Editor's note: This is a popular explanation of the word. Other suggestions for the meaning of 'Yucatán' are 'I don't know' and 'I don't understand.'
Very nice story, but not quite accurate. The word 'Yucatán' probably comes from the Nahuatl dialect which was spoken in this area when the Spanish invaded the country. The meaning of the word might be 'deserted place, solitude, vacant space' or 'to be of another place'.
Very good post! Thank you for your work!
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