Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
We call them dindons, or, for those less inclined toward French, moan baarang (French chickens), because French colonialists introduced them to Cambodia in the late 19th century. The French call the birds coqs d’inde, meaning roosters of India. But what about India? Indians refer to them as "Peru," and the Portuguese do the same. Then there are the Turks, who refer to these North American birds as "Hindi."
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name "turkey" is a shortened version of "turkey cock" and "turkey hen," which originally referred to African guinea fowls. These African birds were first brought to Europe via Turkey, thus the name. When the settlers arrived in the New World, they discovered similar-looking birds and dubbed them turkey cocks/hens, which were later shortened to turkeys.
Turkey in different languages:
Greek: Gallopoula (French bird), though according to some sources, it is called Egyptian rooster.
Egyptian Arabic: Greek rooster, but according to some sources, it’s called Roman rooster.
Arabic: Roman rooster
Turkmen: Hindi towugy
Catalan: Gall dindi
Russian: Indiuk
Dutch: Kalkoen, referring to the city of Calicut
Finnish: Kalakuna
Danish: Kalkun
Swedish: Kalkon
Spanish: Pavo
Italian: Tacchino
Slovenian: Puran
Farsi: Boqalamun
Hungarian: Pulyka
Mandarin: Huǒjī
Japanese: Shichimenchō
Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!
Discussion (12)
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
German: (der) Truthahn
I'm guessing, but Truhe is a word for "chest' and Hahn is a word for "rooster."
"Chest rooster?"
Maybe.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
En français c’est un dindon. Et voilà - peut être un dodu dindon. Non?
(Tbh I think it’s a bit boring. Thanksgiving Lamb would be way better.)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Thanks, @DMak, for a delightful little read on Thanksgiving morning! I hope this gets promoted to the Main Feed before the bird arrives on the table.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Since I'm half Norwegian, I looked it up:
Tyrkia, but also kalkun
I guess we Norwegians can't make up our minds . . .
MODERATOR • CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
To answer the question in the title: Of course, the bird existed before the nation of Turkey. It just wasn't called a turkey. I have no idea what the various American Indian tribes called the bird.
Here's where things get weird. The bird got its name because of the country of Turkey. But the country doesn't like the association with the bird, so is presently insisting that when written in the Roman alphabet, it must be spelled Türkiye.
You're seeing five of twelve comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.