ondatra

See also: Ondatra

English

Etymology

From Huron / Wyandot[1] ondatra or ondathra, attested in Gabriel Sagard's 1632 French Dictionnaire de la langue huronne[2] and found in the Huron dialects of the Hochelaga region of Canada.[3]

Noun

ondatra (plural ondatras)

  1. (chiefly US, Canada) The muskrat.
    • 1852, The Swiss Family Robinson, a translation of Johann David Wyss' German Der Schweizerische Robinson, chapter 39:
      The first was the musk-beaver, not much different from the ondatra, excepting in the formation of his snout.

References

  1. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (1910), edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, part 2
  2. Jean-Paul Colin, Trésors des mots exotiques (1986), page 98: "Du huron ondathra (1632); nom indigène du rat musqué ou rat d'Amérique, assez proche du castor, ..."
  3. Handbook of Indians of Canada (1969 edition), edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, page 361: "Ondatra. A name for the muskrat (Fiber zibethicus), derived from one of the Huron dialects of the Iroquoian language early current in the Hochelaga region of Canada."

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈondatra]

Noun

ondatra f

  1. muskrat

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

  • ondatra in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • ondatra in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

ondatra m (plural ondatras)

  1. ondatra

Further reading

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