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anate_ means "apple with seeds." We also find the apricot, lemon (_pomcitron_), peach, and quince all described as apples. At least one fruit, the _greengage_, is named from a person, Sir William Gage, a gentleman of Suffolk, who popularised its cultivation early in the 18th century. It happens that the French name of the fruit, _reine-claude_ (pronounced _glaude_), is also personal, from the wife of Francis I. Animal nomenclature shows some strange vagaries. The resemblance of the _hippopotamus_, lit. river-horse, to the horse, hardly extends beyond their common possession of four legs.[28] The lion would hardly recognise himself in the _ant-lion_ or the _sea-lion_, still less in the _chameleon_, lit. earth-lion, the first element of which occurs also in _camomile_, earth-apple. The _guinea-pig_ is not a pig, nor does it come from Guinea (see p. 51). _Porcupine_ means "spiny pig." It has an extraordinary number of early variants, and Shakespeare wrote it _porpentine_. One Mid. English form was _porkpoint_. The French name has hesitated between _spine_ and _spike_. The modern form is _porc-epic_, but Palsgrave has "_porkepyn_ a beest, _porc espin_." _Porpoise_ is from Old Fr. _porpeis_, for _porc peis_ (Lat. _porcus piscis_), pig-fish. The modern French name is _marsouin_, from Ger. _Meerschwein_, sea-pig; _cf._ the name _sea-hog_, formerly used in English. Old Fr. _peis_ survives also in _grampus_, Anglo-Fr. _grampais_ for _grand peis_, big fish, but the usual Old French word is _craspeis_ or _graspeis_, fat fish. The _caterpillar_ seems to have suggested in turn a cat and a dog. Our word is corrupted by folk-etymology from Old Fr. _chatepeleuse_, "a corne-devouring mite, or weevell" (Cotgrave). This probably means "woolly cat," just as a common species is popularly called _woolly bear_, but it was understood as being connected with the French verb _peler_, "to _pill_, pare, barke, unrinde, unskin" (Cotgrave). The modern French name for the caterpillar is _chenille_, a derivative of _chien_, dog. It has also been applied to a fabric of a woolly nature; _cf._ the botanical _catkin_, which is in French _chaton_, kitten. [Page Heading: NICKNAMES OF ANIMALS] Some animals bear nicknames. _Dotterel_ means "dotard," and _dodo_ is from the Port. _doudo_, mad. _Ferret_ is from Fr. _furet_, a diminutive from Lat. _fur_, thief. _Shark_ was used of a sharper or greedy parasite before it was applied to the fish. This, in
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