walrus

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English

WOTD – 25 August 2010
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A walrus

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Dutch walrus, a compound of wal (“whale”) and ros (“horse”). Displaced native Old English horshwæl. Compare similar constructions in Danish hvalros, Old Norse hrosshvalr, and German Walross.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (AU):(file)

Noun

walrus (plural walruses or walrus or walrusses)

  1. A large Arctic marine mammal related to seals and having long tusks, tough, wrinkled skin, and four flippers, Lua error in Module:taxlink at line 68: Parameter "noshow" is not used by this template..
    • 1887 — James W. Buel, Sea and Land, page 251.
      Of all the Phocine family none present so terrible and grotesque an appearance as the gigantic Walrus, also known as the morse and sea-horse.

Quotations

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch walrus, probably from Danish hvalros or Swedish valross, from an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (“horse-whale”).

Noun

walrus (plural walrusse)

  1. walrus, Odobenus rosmarus(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace {{taxlink}} with {{taxfmt}} if already defined. Add nomul=1 if not defined.)

Cebuano

Etymology

From English walrus, from Danish hvalros, an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (literally “horse-whale”). The term may have entered English via Dutch walrus.

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: wal‧rus

Noun

walrus

  1. a walrus (Lua error in Module:taxlink at line 68: Parameter "noshow" is not used by this template.)

Dutch

Etymology

The origin of this word is not wholly certain, with several theories proposed. Probably borrowed from Danish hvalros or Swedish valross, from an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (“horse-whale”). Equivalent to wal (“whale; large sea-animal”) +‎ ros (“horse”). The Old Norse word may, however, been a folk-etymological modification of Old Norse rossmal, related to Proto-Germanic *rusta-, from the rust colour of the animal.[1] Preference for borrowing the inverted form could have been due to the influence of the already existing Dutch compound walvis (“whale”, literally “whale-fish”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʋɑlrʏs/
  • audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: wal‧rus

Noun

walrus m (plural walrussen, diminutive walrusje n)

  1. walrus, any member of the family Odobenidae of which Odobenus rosmarus(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace {{taxlink}} with {{taxfmt}} if already defined. Add nomul=1 if not defined.) is the sole extant member

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Afrikaans: walrus

References

  1. ^ Philippa, Marlies, Debrabandere, Frans, Quak, Arend, Schoonheim, Tanneke, van der Sijs, Nicoline (2003–2009) Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands (in Dutch), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
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