In Belizean Creole, the geckos Phylodactylus & Aristrelliger are known as
"karrech" for the sound they produce.
Ellen McRae
Caye Caulker
Belize
Central America
Madhusudan Katti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Two examples from India immediately come to mind:
House Gecko - Hemidactylus frenatus - is known as Tiktiki in Bangla
(or Bengali) language.
Tucktoo (local and English common name) - Gekko gecko - is another
gecko found in Assam.
I'm sure I can remember plenty of other examples if I sit down and
think about it for a while.
Madhu
On Apr 19, 2008, at 1:21 PM, Warren W. Aney wrote:
> Is anyone aware of a comprehensive study or report on the
> onomatopoeia of
> animal names?
>
> Of course their are obvious examples such as chickadee, crow,
> kookaburra,
> katydid, cuckoo. And it seems there may be other less obvious
> examples in
> English and other languages, e.g., duck, cow (Latin bos, German kuh),
> titmouse (Scandinavian titt), pig (Latin sui), owl (Latin ulula).
>
> I also remember running across a speculation that human language may
> have
> first evolved as a means of communicating the presence of animals
> (imagine a
> proto-hominid running back to his clan calling out "Woo-woo" = wolf
> = vulpe
> = lobo).
>
> And can you come up with other possible examples?
>
> Warren W. Aney
> Senior Wildlife Ecologist
> Tigard, Oregon
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