Ojo del guajalote

[Wild turkeys, near Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary; 12/09/07]

In Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs and their neighbors
and the heart of original turkey-domestication), the word
for the male turkey is huehxo:lo:-tl, which appears to be
a compound of hueh- 'great, big' and xo:lo:-tl 'male servant'
while the word for female turkey is to:tol-in, which is the
general word for domesticated bird. Since the turkey was 
the Aztecs' domesticated bird, further specificity doesn't
seem to have been needed prior to the introduction of
European chickens at the time of the conquest. European
chickens were called either cax < castilla or piyo
(apparently from the call that Europeans use when rounding
up their chickens: piyo, piyo, piyo, which is basically
'chick, chick, chick' cf. Sp. pollo). Xuehxo:lo:-tl has
given rise to the Mexican Spanish word guajalote. In other
Spanish-speaking areas the word pavo is used. It originally
was used for the peacock, until turkeys were imported from
the Americas.

By sheer coincidence, I'm making turkey chili tonight. :-)

Comments

[joanna]

yum! Did you hear about the turkey that showed up in western Maryland in a drive-through Dunkin' Donuts line? They had a shot of him standing in line between two cars. A human at the site said "we've never seen this turkey around here." Two days later, his owners, from two counties over, caught him--he was a family pet who had run away(on Thanksgiving weekend, yet).

[Leslee]

Heh. No, I hadn't. Maybe he got tired of Starbuck's?

Winter is breeding season. They do tend to be active this time of year.

[Lucy]

I'm not quite sure about eating one's great big male servant...

[Lorianne]

And by way of tasteless follow-up to Lucy's comment...you do mean winter is breeding time for turkeys, no? I wasn't sure if you were letting slip an insight into your winter social calendar... ;-)

[Leslee]

Yes, I immediately thought of another tasteless response to Lucy's comment about eating one's great big male servant. But I'm sure you can imagine. And yes, I did mean turkey breeding - but where was his wing man?