Why is the guinea pig called that?

Breeders have bred about 80 breeds and varieties of guinea pigs, differing in size, texture of cover, color. But people know little about them. We will try to fill this gap with interesting material.

Guinea pigs (or guinea pigs) are classified as rodents of the genus of pigs from the mumps family. Nevertheless, the animal does not in any way intersect with the breed of pigs, and also does not in any way correlate with the inhabitants of the deep sea. Their relatives are rabbit, squirrel, beaver, capybara.

Moreover, it is unlikely that they are in any way connected with Guinea. These good-natured animals received such a "cunning" name historically in connection with their appearance, taking into account the physiological and behavioral characteristics, as well as based on their habitats and distribution characteristics. On this occasion, there are a number of versions, but it is rather difficult to give preference to any of them.

Cavey (another name for guinea pigs) are very ancient animals. They were tamed by the Incas in the 13th - 15th centuries, using them as a source of valuable dietary meat and for decorative purposes. According to researcher Nering, mummies of animals were found in Peru at the Ancona cemetery. According to one of the most reliable versions, their supposed wild ancestors still live in Peru.

Today, Peruvian enterprises contain up to 70 million domesticated animals. They produce about 17,000 tons of valuable meat annually. For centuries, the inhabitants of the Andes have been supplying the meat of these animals, which has a whole range of dietary and taste properties.

The animal cannot actively defend itself, and therefore is forced to live in groups. And the collective, as you know, is difficult to catch by surprise. Watchdog functions are explicitly expressed and are executed in sequence, even in pairs. They multiply intensively at different times of the year, due to the need to protect the species.

In addition, pigs have extremely sensitive hearing and an unusually developed sense of smell. When a danger arises, the animals quickly hide in burrows, where the aggressor cannot reach them. The pigs are unusually clean - they often "wash" themselves and tirelessly "wash" their children. Therefore, it is not easy for predators to find the animal by smell - its fur coat exudes only the finest smells of hay.

These fluffy animals became known to the inhabitants of Europe in the 16th century after the conquest of a number of American regions by the Spanish conquistadors. Later, by water, they ended up in Europe, where they spread as pets.

The average weight of a mature pig is 1-1.5 kg, length is 25-35 cm. Some representatives reach a weight of 2 kg. They live for 8-10 years.

In domestic pigs, the color is usually brown-gray, the belly is light. Feral pigs are usually gray in color. There are several groups of breeds of domestic animals (with different colors):

1. with short hair (selfies, crested dogs and others);
2. with long hair (texeli, Peruvian, merino, angora);
3. with coarse hair (teddy, rex);
4. without or with a small amount of wool (baldwin and skinny).

At night, they can barely audibly chirp, like birds. Mating songs are performed by males in the style of rumbling of various tones. Due to their high susceptibility to pathogens of a number of infections, the animals are widely used for laboratory experiments. This quality has led to their use in the diagnosis of various diseases - diphtheria, tuberculosis and others.

In the investigations of well-known Russian and foreign scientists-bacteriologists (I.I.

Consider why this funny animal was named so strangely. Several hypotheses for the emergence of the name are known, respectively, they are distinguished by a number of direct signs according to two main factors:

1. appearance;
2. behavior and sounds made.

For the first time, Pedro Ciez de Leon wrote about the animal in his scientific treatises ("Chronicles of Peru") in 1554, calling him "Kuy" (Spanish Cuy). Later in the books of Diego G. Holguin (1608) there are "Ccoui", "Ccuy", which literally means "the local little rabbit". In this case, "ccuy" is also translated as "gift". On the American continent, various representatives of this family have retained this name to our time.

Considering that the dietary meat of the animal was eaten with pleasure, the animal was revered, and statuettes and other decorative items with its image still exist, then the word “gift” in its semantic content is quite consistent with the object.

The name "guinea pig" appeared from the moment the animals appeared in Europe, where they were brought by Spanish sailors. Therefore, with a high degree of probability, it can be argued that the animals received their European name in Spain. Thus, with the light hand of the Spanish sailors "rabbit-dar" turned into a pig. And since this very "gift" was overseas, then upon arrival in Europe, the animal also became "sea", although it never learned to swim.

Giving such a name and being observant people, the authors quite reasonably proceeded from several specific features of the animal inherent in its appearance, as well as physiological and behavioral characteristics.

Cavey is characterized by: an elongated body, a rough coat, a shortened neck, small legs. On the front legs there are 4 fingers, and on the hind legs - 3 fingers, equipped with large, hoof-like claws. The tail is missing. The animal's voice is like the gurgling of water, and when frightened it turns into a squeal. The sound effusions produced by the animals are clearly reminiscent of the grunting of pigs.

In addition, the blunt-shaped muzzle is very similar to a pig's penny.

It is likely that the way the natives cooked pigs for food also played a role here. Previously, the carcasses were scalded with boiling water to remove wool, similar to removing hair from pigs.

And also the carcasses of the animal put up for sale in Peru outwardly very much resemble the carcasses of suckling pigs.

Existing indirect signs, which for the most part confirm the earlier hypotheses of the appearance of the name "guinea pig". However, there are also contradictions.

So, the English name containing the word "Guinean" is also explained in different ways. One of the versions is based on the fact that trade with Guinea by the time the animals appeared in Europe was the most intense, which is why it was often confused with other territories. Another version defends the opinion that initially cavies were not domesticated, but were used only as a food product. It is possible that the emergence of the idiom guinea pig - "a pig for a guinea" (until 1816, a guinea was a coin named after the state of Guinea, where the British mined gold), correlates with this.

Another assumption - in England at that time, "guinea" in its common noun interpretation corresponded to everything brought from distant overseas lands. There is also an assumption that the cavey really traded for 1 guinea. It is possible that the letters in the names Guiana (Guiana) and Guinea (Guinea) were elementarily confused.

The used scientific Latin term Cavia porcellus contains porcellus - "little pig", but the word cavia originates from cabiai (the name of an animal in the Galibi tribe that lived in French Guiana)... Hence, experts use the name Cavy, while the term "guinea pig" is used more broadly.

Our term originated from Poland (swinka morska), and in Poland - from Germany.

In most cases, the definitions of animals contain or imply the word "pig". So the French have an Indian pig, the Dutch have a Guinean pig, the Portuguese have a small Indian pig, and the Chinese have a Dutch pig. The list goes on.

However, there are parallels with other animals. In Japanese - モ ル モ ッ ト (morumotto - marmot); in Spanish - conejillo de Indias (small Indian rabbit); in one of the German dialects - merswin (dolphin). Such dramatic differences are most often explained by linguistic features of the language and coincidences in pronunciation.

Summarizing, we note that the animal is called differently in different languages:

1. in German - guinea pig;
2. in English - guinea pig, home cavey, restless (mobile) cavey;
3. in Spanish - Indian pig;
4. in French - Indian pig;
5. in Ukrainian - morska pig, kaviya gvineyska;
6. in Italian - Indian pig;
7. in Portuguese - Indian pig;
8. in Dutch - Indian pig.

It is clear that a certain variety of names reflects the history and source of animals entering a particular country. An important factor in this context is the linguistic characteristics of a particular country. Nevertheless, the presence of an overwhelming "pig" analogy in the name of this creature speaks in favor of the main version. Moreover, the "pig" does not hurt the ear as much as its basic source of origin.

For why the guinea pig is so called, see the next video.