Naming and Etymology
The brown bear is sometimes referred to as the bruin, from Middle English, based on the name of the bear in History of Reynard the Fox, translated by William Caxton, from Middle Dutch bruun or bruyn, meaning brown (the color). During the Old West, the grizzly was termed "Old Ephraim" and sometimes as "Moccasin Joe". The scientific name of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, can be considered a tautology, since "Ursus" means "bear" in Latin and "arctos" comes from the Greek word for bear.
Read more about this topic: Brown Bear
Famous quotes containing the words naming and/or etymology:
“The night is itself sleep
And what goes on in it, the naming of the wind,
Our notes to each other, always repeated, always the same.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)