echidna
English
[edit]![](http://178.128.105.246/host-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Echidna_burningwell.jpg/220px-Echidna_burningwell.jpg)
Etymology
[edit]Coined in scientific literature around 1811. Probably from Ancient Greek ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “snake, viper”) via Latin echidna. Compare ἐχῖνος (ekhînos, “hedgehog, etc.”). However, this sense is problematic (unless it is a reference to the ant-eating tongue). The name perhaps belongs to Latin echinus (“sea urchin, hedgehog”) from the aforementioned Ancient Greek term's alternate sense of "sea-urchin" (also "sharp points"), which Watkins explains as "snake-eater", from ἔχις (ékhis, “snake”), though it may actually be from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰis (“hedgehog, hedgehog-like animals”). The 1810 Encyclopaedia Britannica deduces thus the animal's alternative name as "porcupine ant-eater".
Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, the name refers to Echidna as the name of a serpent-nymph in Greek mythology, "a beautiful woman in the upper part of her body; but instead of legs and feet, she had from the waist downward, the form of a serpent", in which case the animal was named for its mixed features (early naturalists doubted whether it was a mammal or amphibian). Ultimately, the etymology may be from a synthesis of all the roots above. (From OED.)
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]echidna (plural echidnas or echidnae)
- Any of the species of small spined monotremes in family Tachyglossidae, the four extant species of which are found in Australia and southern New Guinea.
Synonyms
[edit]- (species of Tachyglossidae): spiny anteater, bunning
Derived terms
[edit]- Attenborough's long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi)
- Barton's long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bartoni)
- cyclops long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi)
- eastern long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bartoni)
- long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus)
- short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus)
- short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
- Sir David's long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi)
- western long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijni)
Translations
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See also
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Italian
[edit]Noun
[edit]echidna f (plural echidne)
Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Ancient Greek ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “viper”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /eˈkʰid.na/, [ɛˈkʰɪnːä]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /eˈkid.na/, [eˈkid̪nä]
Noun
[edit]echidna f (genitive echidnae); first declension
Declension
[edit]First-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | echidna | echidnae |
Genitive | echidnae | echidnārum |
Dative | echidnae | echidnīs |
Accusative | echidnam | echidnās |
Ablative | echidnā | echidnīs |
Vocative | echidna | echidnae |
Related terms
[edit]References
[edit]- “echidna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “echidna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Romanian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]echidna f
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Monotremes
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian feminine nouns
- Latin terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Latin 3-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin first declension nouns
- Latin feminine nouns in the first declension
- Latin feminine nouns
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian noun forms