Regional names of animals in your country?

NachoB

NachoB
Since i'm bored and i'm curious, how are some animals called in your country?

I would avoid direct translations from English to spanish, using only names based on native languages or common popular names.

I start:

Jaguar ---> Yaguareté - Origin: guaraní - Meaning: true wild beast (roughly translated from spanish)
Capybara ---> Carpincho - Origin: guaraní (kapiyvar) - Meaning: master/lord of the grasses
Maned wolf ---> Aguará Guazú - Origin: Guaraní - Meaning: Big fox
Giant otter ---> Ariray / Lobo de rio - Origin: guaraní
Howler monkey ---> Mono Carayá - Origin: guaraní - Meaning: Boss of the forest
Giant Armadillo ---> Tatú carreta / Guazú - Origin: guaraní - Meaning: Big armadillo (tatú is the word for armadillo in that languages)
Hairy armadillo ---> Quirquincho o Peludo - Origin: quechua - Meaning: word for armadillo / Peludo means hairy in spanish.
Pink fairy armadillo ---> Pichi ciego - Origin: Mapuche / Mapudungun - Meaning: small / ciego means blind in spanish
Nine-banded armadillo ---> Mulita grande
Greater rhea ---> Ñandú - Origin: Guaraní - Meaning: spider - I honestly have no idea why lol
Lesser rhea ---> Choique - Origin: Mapuche / Mapudungun - Meaning: ostrich
Brazilian tapir ---> Anta - Apparently this Word comes from an Arabic word and it means thick skin. There are other regional names like the guaraní tapiich and in quechua anta means copper but i don't think is related.
Buffed necked ibis ---> Bandurria austral - Bandurria in spanish is also de name of a strings insteument
Ruddy-headed goose ---> Cauquén colorado - Origin: mapuche - Meaning: to be always soaking - Colorado just means deep red in spanish.
Megallan goose ---> Cauquén común
Caracara ---> Carancho - In my country the name of this animal is used as a peyorative word to name unethical oportunistic people usually lawyers.
Southern screamer ---> Chajá - Origin: guaraní - Meaning: "let's go!" "Flee!" - It's name actually comes from the sound it makes which sounds similar to chajá.
Southern lapwing ---> Tero - Name also comes mainly from it's call.
Argentinian horned frog ---> Escuerzo - Origin: old spanish - Meaning: Toad

Patagonian mara is just mara or liebre patagónica (patagonian hare) and coati is just coati ( the name also comes from Guaraní and it means long nose)

If i remember any other it'll add it later.
 
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Markiz

Markiz
Lol Carpincho 😩 love that name. Giant Otter being called Wolf of the River is soo cool tho 👌

As for some animals in Serbian

Bear - Медвед/Medved (Tr: Honey eater) - Ancient Slavs believed in a power of spoken name, and were afraid that speaking true names of evil spirits, demons or even dangerous animals aloud would summon them. That's why some dangerous animals in Slavic languages have "second name" that describes their behavior. It is believed that "true name" for Bear in Slavic languages is lost to history

European Nose Horned Viper - Поскок/Poskok - (Tr: Jumper) - Similar case, descriptive name that stems from belief (myth) that this snake is able to launch itself onto people from high places

Some other less ominous names:

Fallow Deer - Јелен Лопатар/Jelen Lopatar - Shovel Deer

Chamois - Дивокоза/Divokoza - Wild Goat

Ibex - Козорог/Kozorog - Goathorn

Some other names with no known (to me) translation:

Wolf - Вук/Vuk

Lynx - Рис/Ris

Hedgehog - Јеж/Jež

Squirrel - Веверица/Veverica

Capercaillie - Тетреб/Tetreb

Badger - Јазавац/Jazavac

Otter - Видра/Vidra

What I find always fascinating are animals that have unique Serbian names that are not local to Balkans. These are usually animals that ancient Slavs encountered in their shared homeland, and names stuck even after generations of migrations to places where those animals can't be found:

Moose - Лос/Los

Wolverine - Ждеравац/Žderavac

Reindeer - Ирвас/Irvas

Walrus - Морж/Morž

Auroch - Тур/Tur
 
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NachoB

NachoB
Markiz said:
As for some animals in Serbian
Ancient Slavs believed in a power of spoken name, and were afraid that speaking true names of evil spirits, demons or even dangerous animals aloud would summon them. That's why some dangerous animals in Slavic languages have "second name" that describes their behavior. It is believed that true name" for Bear in Slavic languages is lost to history
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I love that. Super interesting.
 

RightWhale

RightWhale
In the United States we have a type of water bug known locally as a “toe biter”.

That’s because a lot of people would swim in a pond or lake, accidentally run into the little guy, and then get a painful (but not deadly) venomous bite. Also they can fly too.

For those who don’t like bugs I won’t show a picture. I think they are cute though.

For something more socially acceptable, we have this species of night-jar that we call the “whip-poor-will” due to the noise it makes.
1711028645291.jpeg
 

Fallax

Fallax
I only speak English but even then I refer to some animals in Planet Zoo with a different name. It's puma not cougar! Cougar is only really common in eastern North America and in the west they call it mountain lion, everywhere else it's puma!

Another one is calling moose elk, though honestly I think this has become more of a European thing as when us Brits here about this animal it's usually from Americans or Canadians who call it moose. Personally I do call it moose, solely because the word elk can also refer to the wapiti and it's best to avoid confusion.

Some other animals in the game I call differently (planet zoo name - what I call it):
  • African Buffalo - Cape Buffalo (to avoid confusion with the Congo buffalo)
  • African Savannah Elephant - African Bush Elephant (it's just shorter and rolls off the tongue better)
  • Siberian Tiger - Amur Tiger (I flip between these two a lot)
  • Timber Wolf - Grey Wolf (though this can be confusing depending on what you think the wolf in PZ is meant to be, personally I've always seen it as a generic grey wolf)
  • Wisent - European Bison (Honestly I flip between these, I do think it's a bit strange they used the name Wisent as I've definitely heard the latter more with the former being the more common name in mainland Europe)
 

KönigDerKaffeebohnen

K
Ohh german is fun with that.
Most animals here have a "hunter" name, which more or less boils down to the name or color ending with "wild" for wild animal.
Some examples would be:
Reddeer: Rothirsch => Rotwild "Red Wild"
Wild Boar: Wildschwein => Schwarzwild "Black Wild"
Fallowdeer: Damhirsch => Damwild
Moufflon: Mufflon => Muffelwild
 

KönigDerKaffeebohnen

K
NachoB said:
This two are super funny.
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I bet youd also like:
Rhino - Nose Horn
Hippo - Nile/River Horse
Aardvark - Earth Piglet
Budgerigar - Wave Parakeet
Love Bird - Insepperable ones
Walrus - Whale Horse
Echidna - Ant Hedgehog (Knuckes makes alot more Sense as Sonics rival in german)
Platypus - Beak Animal
Racoon - Washing Bear
Wolverine - Glutton/Insult for eats alot
Meerkat - Tiny Earth Man
Urchin - Sea Cucumber
 

Marvinb

Marvinb
KönigDerKaffeebohnen said:
I bet youd also like:
Rhino - Nose Horn
Hippo - Nile/River Horse
Aardvark - Earth Piglet
Budgerigar - Wave Parakeet
Love Bird - Insepperable ones
Walrus - Whale Horse
Echidna - Ant Hedgehog (Knuckes makes alot more Sense as Sonics rival in german)
Platypus - Beak Animal
Racoon - Washing Bear
Wolverine - Glutton/Insult for eats alot
Meerkat - Tiny Earth Man
Urchin - Sea Cucumber
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Man if its your native langue you really dont realize how dumb some of these are unless you really think about it 😂
 

Markiz

Markiz
KönigDerKaffeebohnen said:
I bet youd also like:
Rhino - Nose Horn
Hippo - Nile/River Horse
Aardvark - Earth Piglet
Budgerigar - Wave Parakeet
Love Bird - Insepperable ones
Walrus - Whale Horse
Echidna - Ant Hedgehog (Knuckes makes alot more Sense as Sonics rival in german)
Platypus - Beak Animal
Racoon - Washing Bear
Wolverine - Glutton/Insult for eats alot
Meerkat - Tiny Earth Man
Urchin - Sea Cucumber
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It's interesting that we call Hippos - Nile Horses in Serbian as well, even tho they are not present there anymore
 

Marvinb

Marvinb
Not really a regional thing but still an interesting animal name related fact:
Did you know that the word penguin didnt originally refer to what we now know as penguins? That name originally refered to the now extinct great auk (flightless 3 foot puffin) and only later was also given to these similar looking birds sailors would encounter on trips to the southern hemisphere
 

Markiz

Markiz
Marvinb said:
Not really a regional thing but still an interesting animal name related fact:
Did you know that the word penguin didnt originally refer to what we now know as penguins? That name originally refered to the now extinct great auk (flightless 3 foot puffin) and only later was also given to these similar looking birds sailors would encounter on trips to the southern hemisphere
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Oh really? Had no idea, can't believe I haven't heard about it before. Makes a lot of sense tho. Now I have the fact to randomly drop by on social occasions
 

Utahraptor104

Utahraptor104
Some portuguese (Brazilian, need to specify) names are really weird or funny:


Porcupine > porco espinho - porco is the portuguese word for pig while espinho is spike, so the literal name is "spiky pig".
Aardvark > porco da terra - same as above, just changing the spike for "from earth".
Tapir > anta - beside the radical change, calling someone a anta in Brazil is basically calling it a dumb person.
Possum and skunk > gambá and camgambá - both are commonly confused due to that.
Red deer > veado vermelho (cervo-vermelho ingame) - just like the tapir, its very common to use the word veado as a slur, but in modern times it lose that meaning and is now just a synonymus for "bro".
Emu and rhea > emu and ema - due to the similar name its, very common to people think they are the same animal.
Watchog and wild boar > Javali - yep.
Giant anteater > tamandua bandeira - literally "flag tamandua", i find it particullaly funny.
Nine banded armadillo > tatu galinha - "chicken armadillo" idk why we start to call this particular armadillo a chicken, but it's very funny.
Puma > Puma - yes, the nominal name is the same, but there is some variations that are different, namelly suçuarana and onça parda, the latter is very interesting because "onça" is also used for the jaguar (onça pintada) so the word onça might make some confusion.
Collared pecary > caititu, caitatu, taititu, cateto, tateto, pecari, porco-do-mato (wild pig or grass pig) e patira - and yet they choose one that don't exist.
Pronghorn > antilocapra - instead of being a antelope, it's a goat now



Some other names that change but don't have nothing interesting to comment:
Giant otter > ariranha
Wildebeest > gnu
Nile lechwe >cobo do Nilo
Ostrich > avestruz
Wolverine > carcaju
P. Horse > cavalo P.
Cassowary > casuar

There by last some names that are the same, with the only change being how the name is wrote ( kangoroo > canguru) or changing a single letter (wombat > vombate) this being particulally common in names with "k" (okapi > ocapi, koala > coala, kiwi > quiuí)
 
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