为什么美国人称火鸡为土耳其HowaNewWorldbirdcametobenamedaftercountrieshalfwayaroundtheglobe.这种新世界的鸟类为什么会以半个地球外的国家的名字来命名。Withintheturkeyliesthetangledhistoryoftheworld.在土耳其境内有着错综复杂的世界历史。OK,notquite.Butnotfaroff,either.好吧，或许并非如此，但也相差无几了。TurkeythebirdisnativetoNorthAmerica.Butturkeythewordisageographicmessatributetothevagariesofcolonialtradeandconquest.Asyoumighthavesuspected,theEnglishtermfortheaviancreaturelikelycomesfromTurkeythecountry.Or,moreprecisely,fromTurkishmerchantsinthe15thand16thcenturies.火鸡这种鸟是原产于北美洲。但是turkey一词来源是一种地理上的大杂烩 是对殖民地贸易和征服的异想天开的献礼。你可能认为这种鸟类的英文名字可能来自于土耳其这个国家的名字。或者，更确切地说，从第十五和十六世纪的土耳其商人那里得名。HowexactlythewordturkeymadeitswayintotheEnglishlanguageisindispute.ThelinguistMarioPeitheorizedthatmorethanfivecenturiesago,TurksfromthecommercialhubofConstantinople(whichtheOttomansconqueredinthemid-15thcentury)soldwildfowlfromGuineainWestAfricatoEuropeanmarkets,leadingtheEnglishtorefertothebirdasturkeycockorturkeycoq (coqbeingFrenchforrooster”),andeventuallyturkeyforshort.WhenBritishsettlersarrivedinMassachusetts,theyappliedthesametermstothewildfowltheyspottedintheNewWorld,eventhoughthebirdswereadifferentspeciesthantheirAfricancounterparts.TheetymologyexpertMarkForsyth,meanwhile,claimsthatTurkishtradersbroughtguineafowltoEnglandfromMadagascar,offthecoastofsoutheastAfrica,andthatSpanishconquistadorsthenintroducedAmericanfowltoEurope,wheretheywereconflatedwiththeturkeysfromMadagascar.DanJurafsky,anotherlinguist,arguesthatEuropeansimportedguineafowlfromEthiopia(whichwassometimesmixedupwithIndia)viatheMamlukTurks,andthenconfusedthebirdswithNorthAmericanfowlshippedacrosstheAtlanticbythePortuguese.“土耳其”这个单词如何出现在英语语言中依然有争议。语言学家Mario裴理推测大概在五个多世纪前，君士坦丁堡这个商业中心的土耳其人 (在15 世纪中叶被土耳其人征服）将来自西非几内亚的野禽（即珍珠鸡）卖到欧洲市场，所以那时的英国人称这种鸟为土耳其公鸡，并最终以土耳其来简称这种动物。当英国移民抵达（美国）马萨诸塞州时，在这块新大陆上他们用同一个词来称呼他们在这片土地上看到的野禽，尽管这里的野禽不同于非洲的那种。词源学专家马克福赛思说土耳其商人把几内亚的这种野禽从马达加斯加带到英国，而西班牙征服者把美洲的野禽引到欧洲，所以就和来自马达加斯加的“土耳其”混合在一起了。丹Jurafsky，另一个语言学家，认为欧洲人通过马穆鲁克土耳其人从埃塞俄比亚 (有时候人们将埃塞俄比亚同印度混在一起了）进口几内亚野禽，然后与葡萄牙通过大西洋从北美进口的野禽混淆在一起了。Theguineafowl(left)vs.theNorthAmericanturkey(Wikipedia)珍珠鸡（左图）和北美火鸡对比（图片来源：维基百科）Hereswherethingsgetevenmorebewildering.Turkey,whichhasnonativeturkeys,doesnotcallturkeyturkey.TheTurksknewthebirdwasnttheirs,Forsythexplains,sotheymadeacompletelydifferentmistakeandcalleditahindi,becausetheythoughtthebirdwasprobablyIndian.Theywerentalone.TheFrenchoriginallycalledtheAmericanbirdpouletdInde(literallychickenfromIndia),whichhassincebeenabbreviatedtodinde,andsimilartermsexistinlanguagesrangingfromPolishtoHebrewtoCatalan.ThentherestheoddlyspecificDutchwordkalkoen,which,asacontractionofCalicut-hoen,literallymeanshenfromCalicut,amajorIndiancommercialcenteratthetime.ThesenamesmayhavearisenfromthemistakenbeliefatthetimethattheNewWorldwastheIndies,orthesensethattheturkeytradepassedthroughIndia.事情还要更复杂。土耳其当地没有火鸡，他们也不把火鸡叫做“turkey”。他们“知道这玩意不是他们国家的“，福赛斯是这么解释的，因此他们犯了一个完全不同的错误，把火鸡叫做hindi（印度语的意思），因为他们认为这玩意也许是印度的。有这种想法的人不止是土耳其人。法国人一开始把这种美国鸡称为pouletdInde（字面意思为来自印度的鸡），后来简称为dinde，类似的称谓也存在于波兰语、希伯来语和加泰罗尼亚语中。还有一个非常奇怪的特定荷兰语称谓kalkoen，是从Calicut-hoen这个词提炼出来的，字面意思是“来自卡利卡特的母鸡”，卡利卡特曾是印度的主要商业中心之一。这些名称的来源也许是因为当时他们认为新世界指的是西印度群岛一带，或者是认为火鸡贸易途径印度。SowhatisthebirdcalledinIndia?ItmaybehindiinTurkey,butinHindiitsarki.SomeIndiandialects,however,usethewordpiruorperu,thelatterbeinghowthePortugueserefertotheAmericanfowl,whichisnotnativetoPerubutmayhavebecomepopularinPortugalasSpanishandPortugueseexplorersconqueredtheNewWorld.TheexpansionofWesterncolonialismonlycomplicatedmatters:Malaysianscallturkeyayamblander(“Dutchchicken”),whileCambodiansoptformoanbarang(“Frenchchicken”).那么火鸡在印度被称为什么呢？在土耳其他们称之为hindi，但是在印度语里他们称之为arki。在一些印度方言里使用piru或者peru这个词，后者是葡萄牙语对美国火鸡的叫法，火鸡的原产地不是秘鲁，但是在西班牙和葡萄牙征服新大陆时在葡萄牙很受欢迎。西方殖民主义的扩张使事情更加复杂：马来西亚人把火鸡叫做ayamblander（荷兰鸡的意思），缅甸人选择了moanbarang这个叫法（意思是法国鸡）Thentherearetheturkeytruthersandlinguisticrevisionists.Intheearly1990s,forinstance,adebatebrokeoutinthelettertotheeditorsectionofTheNewYorkTimesoverthepossibleHebreworiginsofthewordturkey.OnDecember13, 1992,RabbiHaroldM.Kamslersuggested(asafollow-uptoaThanksgiving-themedpiecetitledOneStrangeBird)thattheNewWorldfowlreceiveditsEnglishnamefromChristopherColumbussinterpreter,LuisdeTorres,aJewishconverttoCatholicism.InanOctober12, 1492lettertoafriendinSpain,deTorreshadreferredtotheAmericanbirdheencounteredasatuki,thewordforpeacockinancientHebrewandparrotinmodernHebrew(amoredubiou