It’s probably the result of a taboo. It’s why people say “bear” (the brown one) or “medved” (the honey knower) instead of “arth” or “ursus”.
Comment on The name "seagull" implies the existence of landgulls, airgulls, and firegulls.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 8 months agoWailos or wailer is wolf, is that because they “wail” (howl?) Or is that just a coincidence?
Aqarius@lemmy.world 8 months ago
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Interesting. I knew about “bear” but I did not know about “medved” as another minced-taboo.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Sorry for being unclear–proto-Celtic calls wolves “wailos” for the same reason as they call gulls “weilanna,” because of the noise, yes. The coincidence is that the modern word “wolf” sounds like the proto-Celtic word “wailos.”