sengi

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English

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WOTD – 29 June 2024

Etymology 1

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A black and rufous sengi (Rhynchocyon petersi).

Borrowed from Swahili sengi, probably from another Bantu language (compare Giryama sanje).[1][2] The word was first used in print in English by the British zoologist Jonathan Kingdon (born 1935) in The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (1997): see the quotation.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sengi (plural sengis)

  1. An elephant shrew (family Macroscelididae).
    • [1997, Jonathan Kingdon, “Elephant Shrews, or Sengis”, in The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals, San Diego, Calif.; London: AP Natural World, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 149:
      Four-toed elephant shrew or sengi Petrodromus tetradactylus
      This is the first use of the word in print in English.]
    • 2007, Marian Armstrong, Wildlife and Plants, volume 9 (Horseshoe Crab – Ladybug), New York, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 540:
      The order formerly known as Insectivora included solenodons; shrews; moles and desmans; hedgehogs and moonrats or gymnures; golden moles, tenrecs, and otter shrews; and sengis or elephant shrews.
    • 2007, George A[lan] Feldhamer, Lee C[harles] Drickamer, Stephen H[ulbert] Vessey, Joseph F[rancis] Merritt, Carey Krajewski, “Afrosoricida, Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Macroscelidea, Scandentia, and Dermoptera”, in Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, Ecology, 3rd edition, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Adaptive Radiation and Diversity), page 251, column 1:
      Sengis feed on insects and other animal and plant material. […] Young sengis are highly precocial at birth—they will forage 1 day after birth […].
    • 2010, Joseph F[rancis] Merritt, “Mating Systems and Reproductive Strategies”, in The Biology of Small Mammals, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Reproduction), page 237:
      Like small African antelopes, sengis spend their life exposed to the elements while relying on disruptive coloration to act as camouflage from the plethora of African predators.
    • 2013 December 20, Christy Ullrich Barcus, “World’s Biggest Elephant Shrew Tracked in Tanzania”, in National Geographic‎[2], Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-01:
      The gray-faced sengi is good at hiding out. It was not until 2005 that scientists discovered this species of elephant shrew, a mammal found only in Tanzania. First captured in a camera trap image, the species was later named Rhynchocyon udzungwensis by tropical ecologist Francesco Rovero and his collaborators. The gray-faced sengi (sengi is a Swahili name) lives in the country's Eastern Arc Mountains in the protected areas of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park and the Kilombero Nature Reserve.
    • 2017, Ceri Levy, “Golden-rumped Sengi: Rhynchocyon chrysopygus”, in Ralph Steadman’s Critical Critters, London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Natural History, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 96:
      After various studies it has been decreed that the sengi, of which there are probably 19 species living in Africa, are not related to shrews at all but are in fact a distant relative of the – drum roll, please – yes, you guessed it, the elephant! […] The majority of the sengi species are considered of Least Concern, but two giant sengis (giant is a loose term when dealing with elephant-shrews) are at risk.
Usage note
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The British zoologist Jonathan Kingdon (born 1935) and the American zoologist Galen Rathbun (1944–2019) argue that sengi is preferable to elephant shrew since sengis have a very different evolutionary history from true shrews (order Eulipotyphla), and it is more appropriate for local names to be used for animals endemic to a particular region.[1]

Hyponyms
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Descendants
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  • → Maltese: senġi
Translations
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elephant shrew — see elephant shrew

Etymology 2

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PIE word
*pénkʷe

Borrowed from Kongo sengi, senki, from French cinq (“five”) (in the sense of five sous).[2][3][4] Doublet of cinque, five, pimp, ponzu, and punch.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sengi (plural sengis or sengi)

  1. (historical) A former (1967–1993) monetary unit of Zaire, one hundredth of a likuta, and one ten-thousandth of a zaire; it was issued only in ten sengi coins.
Alternative forms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Galen Rathbun, Jonathan Kingdon (2006 May) “The Etymology of ‘SENGI’”, in Peter J[ohn] Stephenson, editor, Afrotherian Conservation: Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Afrotheria Specialist Group‎[1], number 4, Gland, Vaud, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-05-12, pages 14–15.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Compare “sengi, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.
  3. ^ “sengi, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  4. ^ “sengi, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Noun

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sengi f

  1. (non-standard since 2012) definite singular of seng

Welsh

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Alternative forms

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Verb

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sengi (first-person singular present sangaf, not mutable)

  1. (transitive) to trample, tread on, stamp down
    Synonym: sathru
  2. (transitive) to push in, insert

Conjugation

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Conjugation (literary)
singular plural impersonal
first second third first second third
present indicative/future sangaf sengi sang, sanga sangwn sengwch, sangwch sangant sengir
imperfect (indicative/subjunctive)/
conditional 		sangwn sangit sangai sangem sangech sangent sengid
preterite sengais sengaist sangodd sangasom sangasoch sangasant sangwyd
pluperfect sangaswn sangasit sangasai sangasem sangasech sangasent sangasid, sangesid
present subjunctive sangwyf sengych sango sangom sangoch sangont sanger
imperative — sang, sanga sanged sangwn sengwch, sangwch sangent sanger
verbal noun sengi
verbal adjectives sangedig
sangadwy
Conjugation (colloquial)
Inflected colloquial forms singular plural
first second third first second third
future sanga i, sangaf i sangi di sangith o/e/hi, sangiff e/hi sangwn ni sangwch chi sangan nhw
conditional sangwn i, sangswn i sanget ti, sangset ti sangai fo/fe/hi, sangsai fo/fe/hi sangen ni, sangsen ni sangech chi, sangsech chi sangen nhw, sangsen nhw
preterite sangais i, sanges i sangaist ti, sangest ti sangodd o/e/hi sangon ni sangoch chi sangon nhw
imperative — sanga — — sangwch —
Note: All other forms are periphrastic, as usual in colloquial Welsh.

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “sengi”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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