Why is a cockroach called that? (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

Does it have anything to do with chickens? Or fish (a roach is a type of fish)? Nah. What happened was English speakers heard cucaracha (the name for cockroach in Spanish) and were like “hey, cuca sounds like cock which is a word that exists and racha sounds like roach, which is also a word that exists. Henceforth, you shall be known as cockroach”. This is actually not uncommon for languages to do, woodchuck has a similar origin too as one more example.

 

[Ahsoka]

Language tag:
@athenarose @LexieBoo @Nyaz @Dreamer_of_Songs @Nina @velvet @ChuuAntics @MyLovelyLove @alo @Chiara @eclipsoul @sick @Moguri

 

[ChiaraStar169]

Spoiler: 18+

how much cock would a cockroach roach if a cockroach could roach cock?

 

[Nina]

When I was learning Gujju, for the longest time I thought 'chacundri' was cockroach. It made sense.
cockroach = cucaracha = chachundri < Isnt that perfect???
Nope o.o cockroach is 'vandro'
I thought 'vandro' was mouse. Mouse is 'chachundri.' My way made more sense and I still stand by it.

 

[ChiaraStar169]

When I was learning Gujju, for the longest time I thought 'chacundri' was cockroach. It made sense.
cockroach = cucaracha = chachundri < Isnt that perfect???
Nope o.o cockroach is 'vandro'
I thought 'vandro' was mouse. Mouse is 'chachundri.' My way made more sense and I still stand by it.

I used to think the Korean for milk was sagwa bc of the show Sagwa the Cat (keyword: cat) and the fact that cats like milk. Makes sense, right? ...nope - it's the Korean for apple. lol this was back before I discovered Duo, though, and the app I was using (lingodeer) wasn't really that helpful anyway

 

[Ahsoka]

I used to think the Korean for milk was sagwa bc of the show Sagwa the Cat (keyword: cat) and the fact that cats like milk. Makes sense, right? ...nope - it's the Korean for apple. lol this was back before I discovered Duo, though, and the app I was using (lingodeer) wasn't really that helpful anyway

A friend told me that sagwa in mandarin means idiot. Which to be fair describes some cats Ngl the actual word for milk in Korean feels weird to me though

 

[RandAlThor]

weird there was no name prior to Spanish influence.

 

[Ahsoka]

weird there was no name prior to Spanish influence.

They weren’t native to the British Isles. They likely had some contact with European ones, but not to the point of making a word for them (as far as we know). They became more prominent in Britain during the age of exploration, partly because the Americas have native cockroaches and partly because cockroaches found ship conditions quite favorable, thereby spreading due to maritime trade. The reason English adopted the Spanish word was likely because of areas of the Americans controlled by Spain at this time. Around the 1620s was when English started using the word cockroach

 

[RandAlThor]

They weren’t native to the British Isles. They likely had some contact with European ones, but not to the point of making a word for them (as far as we know). They became more prominent in Britain during the age of exploration, partly because the Americas have native cockroaches and partly because cockroaches found ship conditions quite favorable, thereby spreading due to maritime trade. The reason English adopted the Spanish word was likely because of areas of the Americans controlled by Spain at this time. Around the 1620s was when English started using the word cockroach

Cool. Crazy that the thing known for massive spread and survivability never made it to the British isles until the 1600's

 

[Moguri]

I would never have guessed but I sometimes about how that word came to be..

 

[Moguri]

A friend told me that sagwa in mandarin means idiot. Which to be fair describes some cats Ngl the actual word for milk in Korean feels weird to me though

hey..

 

[Moguri]

Cool. Crazy that the thing known for massive spread and survivability never made it to the British isles until the 1600's

everyone has to start somewhere, maybe there was even a time were cats have not been everywhere

 

[dark_tranquility]

cockies are the worst

especially the ones that bite