英语词汇octopus的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

octopus. Octopuses “walk” on eight arms, not eight legs, so they should not really be named from the Greek oktopous, eight-footed. Apparently, the ancient Greeks reasoned that since the beast walked on the eight appendages, they should be called feet, not arms. In the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga, fish- ermen caught their octopus by using a lure fashioned into the shape of a rat. The Tongans believed that the rat was the octo- pus’s worst enemy, their legend having it that an octopus once gave a drowning rat a ride to shore, whereupon the ungrateful rat alighted and called out: “O octopus, feel of your head; see what I have left there.”

词汇	octopus
词源	octopus. Octopuses “walk” on eight arms, not eight legs, so they should not really be named from the Greek oktopous, eight-footed. Apparently, the ancient Greeks reasoned that since the beast walked on the eight appendages, they should be called feet, not arms. In the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga, fish- ermen caught their octopus by using a lure fashioned into the shape of a rat. The Tongans believed that the rat was the octo- pus’s worst enemy, their legend having it that an octopus once gave a drowning rat a ride to shore, whereupon the ungrateful rat alighted and called out: “O octopus, feel of your head; see what I have left there.”
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