詞源同 Turkey,土耳其。在 16 世紀時，有一種類似火雞的禽鳥叫 guinea fowl,幾內亞禽鳥，或 幾內亞雞，從馬達加斯加經過土耳其進入歐洲，所以又稱為 turkey,后來西班牙殖民者發現美 洲新大陸后，他們注意到當地有一種較大的火雞長得與這種非洲禽鳥非常相似，且這種鳥個 頭巨大，非常笨拙，因此，他們也把這種鳥叫作 turkey,并引進歐洲。后隨著生物學分類更加 細化，人們發現這兩種禽鳥實際上屬于不同種類，為以示區別，后來就把美洲的禽鳥叫 turkey, 把非洲的禽鳥借用希臘語 meleagris 稱呼。
After the two birds were distinguished and the names differentiated, turkey was erroneously retained for the American bird, instead of the African. From the same imperfect knowledge and confusion Melagris, the ancient name of the African fowl, was unfortunately adopted by Linn?us as the generic name of the American bird. [OED]The New World bird itself reputedly reached England by 1524 at the earliest estimate, though a date in the 1530s seems more likely. The wild turkey, the North American form of the bird, was so called from 1610s. By 1575, turkey was becoming the usual main course at an English Christmas. Meaning "inferior show, failure," is 1927 in show business slang, probably from the bird's reputation for stupidity. Meaning "stupid, ineffectual person" is recorded from 1951. Turkey shoot "something easy" is World War II-era, in reference to marksmanship contests where turkeys were tied behind a log with their heads showing as targets. To talk turkey (1824) supposedly comes from an old tale of a Yankee attempting to swindle an Indian in dividing up a turkey and a buzzard as food.
來自柯林斯例句
來自柯林斯例句
來自柯林斯例句
來自柯林斯例句
來自柯林斯例句