So far we’ve looked mostly at plant names and what they mean but as an equal opportunities columnist I figured I’d better do something for the critter lovers amongst us and translate a few animal names
Echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus Tachy – fast, -glossus tongue, aculatus spiny, so fast tongue spiny thing, which seems descriptive enough.
Echidna (image from: https://www.newscientist.com/definition/echidnas/)
Platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus Ornith Bird -rhynchus nose/beak (Greek), anatinus duck like (Latin), so translated as “duck like bird nose”, which seems more of an insult than a description.