Names
Several hypotheses attempt to explain the origin of the term "Jerusalem cricket". One suggests the term originated from a mixing of Navajo and Christian terminology, resulting from the strong connection Franciscan priests had with the Navajos in developing their dictionary and vocabulary. Such priests may have heard the Navajos speak of a "skull insect" and took this as a reference to Calvary (also known as Skull Hill) outside Jerusalem near the place where Jesus was said to have been crucified.
Several Navajo names refer to the insect's head:
- c’ic’in lici (Tsiitsʼiin łichíʼí) "red-skull"
- c’os bic’ic lici (Chʼosh bitsiitsʼiin łichíʼí) "red-skull bug"
- c’ic’in lici’ I coh (Tsiitsʼiin łichíʼítsoh) "big red-skull"
- wo se c’ini or rositsini or yo sic’ini (Wóó tsiitsʼiin/Yaaʼ tsiitsʼiiní) "skull insect"
Other names include the Hopi qalatötö ("shiny bug"), the Spanish niño de la tierra ("earth child") and cara de niño ("child's face"). In California, a common nickname for the insect is 'potato bug', originating from the idea that the bug could grow much larger and eat a potato whole.
Read more about this topic: Jerusalem Cricket
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“Without infringing on the liberty we so much boast, might we not ask our professional Mayor to call upon the smokers, have them register their names in each ward, and then appoint certain thoroughfares in the city for their use, that those who feel no need of this envelopment of curling vapor, to insure protection may be relieved from a nuisance as disgusting to the olfactories as it is prejudicial to the lungs.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)
“Shut out that stealing moon,
She wears too much the guise she wore
Before our lutes were strewn
With years-deep dust, and names we read
On a white stone were hewn.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“I come to this land to ride my horse,
to try my own guitar, to copy out
their two separate names like sunflowers, to conjure
up my daily bread, to endure,
somehow to endure.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)