英语词汇groundhog的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

groundhog; woodchuck. American settlers named the mar- mot, or woodchuck (Arctomys monax), the groundhog, per- haps because this member of the squirrel family seems hoggish in the way he burrows through the ground. Or, possibly, groundhog is a translation of the Dutch aardvark made by Dutch settlers in America, even though the South African aardvark, or earth hog, is a larger burrowing animal than the groundhog. The groundhog isn’t a hog then, but his other American name, woodchuck, is no more accurate, for he doesn’t chuck wood, either, a fact even the old tongue twister implies: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” “Woodchuck” has no connec- tion with wood at all, simply deriving from the Cree Indian word wuchuk or otchock for another animal, the fisher, or pekan, which early settlers corrupted finally to “woodchuck” and applied through mistaken identity to the groundhog.

词汇	groundhog
词源	groundhog; woodchuck. American settlers named the mar- mot, or woodchuck (Arctomys monax), the groundhog, per- haps because this member of the squirrel family seems hoggish in the way he burrows through the ground. Or, possibly, groundhog is a translation of the Dutch aardvark made by Dutch settlers in America, even though the South African aardvark, or earth hog, is a larger burrowing animal than the groundhog. The groundhog isn’t a hog then, but his other American name, woodchuck, is no more accurate, for he doesn’t chuck wood, either, a fact even the old tongue twister implies: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” “Woodchuck” has no connec- tion with wood at all, simply deriving from the Cree Indian word wuchuk or otchock for another animal, the fisher, or pekan, which early settlers corrupted finally to “woodchuck” and applied through mistaken identity to the groundhog.
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