Names
The name “blue wildebeest” derives from a conspicuous silvery-blue sheen to its short-haired hide, differentiating this species from the plainer black wildebeest. (The plural is denoted either "wildebeest" or "wildebeests".) Other common terms for wildebeest include gnu ( /ˈnuː/ or /ˈnjuː/) and nyumbu (Swahili). The name "gnu" originates from the Khoikhoi name for these animals, gnou.
The blue wildebeest is sometimes called brindled gnu. The blue wildebeest and black wildebeest or white-tailed gnu (C. gnou) are the two species of the genus Connochaetes, within the family Bovidae, which includes antelopes, cattle, goats, and other even-toed horned ungulates.
The animal's specific name taurinus is Latin for "like a bull".
Read more about this topic: Blue Wildebeest
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“In a time of confusion and rapid change like the present, when terms are continually turning inside out and the names of things hardly keep their meaning from day to day, it’s not possible to write two honest paragraphs without stopping to take crossbearings on every one of the abstractions that were so well ranged in ornate marble niches in the minds of our fathers.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“It was a poetic recreation to watch those distant sails steering for half-fabulous ports, whose very names are a mysterious music to our ears.... It is remarkable that men do not sail the sea with more expectation. Nothing was ever accomplished in a prosaic mood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words.... The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)