Etymology
The generic name Varanus is derived from the Arabic waral (ورل), which translates as "monitor" in English. The specific name is the Latin word for "Saviour" denoting a possible religious connotation. The Water monitor is occasionally confused with the Crocodile monitor (V. salvadorii) because of their similar scientific names.
In Thailand, the word water monitor or actually local word 'เหี้ย' (hia) is used as an insulting word for bad and evil things including a bad person. Its name is also thought to bring bad luck, so some people prefer to call them 'ตัวเงินตัวทอง' - which means 'silver and gold' in Thai - to avoid the jinx.
The origin of this offensive meaning can be traced back to a time when more people lived in rural areas in close proximity to monitor lizards. Traditionally, Thai villagers lived in 2-story houses, the top floor was for living while the ground floor was designed to be a space for domestic animals such as pigs, chickens, and dogs. Water monitors would enter the ground floor and eat or maim the domestic animals, also hence the other name 'ตัวกินไก่' (dtua gin gai – chicken eater).
In Indonesian and Malay, the water monitor is called 'biawak'.
Read more about this topic: Water Monitor
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“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)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)