A Bird By Any Other Name

In Turkish the bird is called hindi which means "coming from India"; likewise the French dinde ("from India").

In the Hebrew language the turkey is called tarnegol hodu, which literally means "Indian chicken"

In Catalan it is called gall dindi, literally meaning "Indian chicken"

The Dutch word is kalkoen derived from the city Calicut in India, likewise Danish kalkun, and Swedish kalkon.

In Portuguese the word for turkey is peru which also refers to the country Peru.

In Arabic it is called "Ethiopian bird."

In Colloquial Egyptian Arabic it is called the "Greek Bird"

In Greek it is gallopoula which means "French girl" or "French bird"

In Scottish Gaelic it is called cearc frangais, meaning "French chicken".

In Japan the turkey is called shichimencho and in Korea chilmyeonjo, both of which translate as "seven-faced bird". This is said to reflect the ability of the bird, particularly the male, to change the form of its face depending on its mood.

In Chinese it is called huoji which means "fire chicken", named after the color of the head.

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