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Why is the country Turkey named after a bird?
When the Spanish arrived in Mexico in the 16th century they encountered the already-domesticated common turkey, Meleagris gallopavo. They apparently liked the bird; turkeys were among the plunder they took back to Spain around 1519. So the new bird was soon being called a turkey-cock, eventually shortened to turkey.
In Turkey it had been named after the place the Turks found it, India. And when European settlers in the Americas found a similar-looking but quite different bird it was named for the bird they already knew, popularised in Britain by the Levant Company[2] under the name of the place they found it, Turkey.
What is Turkey called in different countries?
Next door to Turkey, in Arabic-speaking countries, the name for the turkey is dik rumi, “Roman chicken.” In Israel it’s tarnegol hodu, “rooster of India.” In Greece, it’s galopoula, which can mean “birdie” or “French chicken.” The Khmer and Scots Gaelic names for it also mean “French chicken.” But in France the turkey …
Are turkey native to America?
Domestic turkeys come from the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), a species that is native only to the Americas. In the 1500s, Spanish traders brought some that had been domesticated by indigenous Americans to Europe and Asia. The Wild Turkey is one of just two species of turkey in the world.
Why is the Turkey not associated with Turkey in English?
English is not the only language that incorrectly associates the turkey with Turkey. Welsh borrowed the English usage and calls the bird twrki. But it is interesting that many other languages incorrectly associate the bird with other countries. In many languages (including Turkish and French), the bird is called by names indicating it’s from India.
Why is it called a Turkey in poultry?
Indeed, it appears that the use of the term “turkey” for poultry was the result, mainly, of European explorers’ confusing it with another bird: Not a turkey. This is a guinea fowl. It’s in the same taxonomic family as turkeys and chickens (Galliformes) but it’s native to sub-Saharan Africa.
Is Turkey a Turkic country?
First let’s talk about the country. Turkey was named for the Turks, believe it or not. Turk can mean either “a citizen of the modern state of Turkey” or more broadly, “an individual of the Turkic-speaking people.” The many Turkic languages are spoken not only in Turkey but also in a large area of central Asia and in northern Siberia.
Why are guinea fowl called turkey cocks?
Ah, we are seeing a connection! Once imported, Europeans came to call the guinea fowl the turkey-cock or turkey-hen, because the bird came from the Turks. When settlers in the New World began to send similar-looking fowl back to Europe, they, out of familiarity, called them turkeys.