may have
been derived from the root of the Latin word _radere_, to scratch, or
_rodere_, to gnaw. Rodent is derived from the latter term. Cat is also in
doubt, but is first recognised in _catalus_, a diminutive of _canis_, a
dog. It was applied to the young of almost any animal, as we use the words
pup, kitten, cub, and so forth. Bear is the result of tongue-twisting from
the Latin _fera_, a wild beast.

Ape is from the Sanskrit _kapi_; _kap_ in the same language means tremble;
but the connection is not clear. Lemur, the name given to that low family
of monkeys, is from the plural Latin word _lemures_, meaning ghost or
spectre. This has reference to the nocturnal habits, stealthy gait, and
weird expression of these large-eyed creatures. Antelope is probably of
Grecian origin, and was originally applied to a half-mythical animal,
located on the banks of the Euphrates, and described as "very savage and
fleet, and having long, saw-like horns with which it could cut down trees.
It figures largely in the peculiar fauna of heraldry."

Deer is of obscure origin, but may have been an adjective meaning wild.
Elk is derived from the same root as eland, and the history of the latter
word is an interesting one. It meant a sufferer, and was applied by the
Teutons to the elk of the Old World on account of the awkward gait and
stiff movements of this ungainly animal. But in later years the Dutch
carried the same word, eland, to South Africa, and there gave it to the
largest of the tribe of antelopes, in which sense it is used by zoologists
to-day.

Porcupine has arisen from two Latin words, _porcus_, a hog, and _spina_, a
spine; hence, appropriately, a spiny-hog. Buffalo may once have been some
native African name. In the vista of time, our earliest glimpse of it is
as _bubalus_, which was applied both to the wild ox and to a species of
African antelope. Fallow deer is from fallow, meaning pale, or yellowish,
while axis, as applied to the deer so common in zoological gardens, was
first mentioned by Pliny and is doubtless of East Indian origin. The word
bison is from the Anglo-Saxon _wesend_, but beyond Pliny its ultimate
origin eludes all research.

Marmot, through various distortions, looms up from Latin times as _mus
montanus_, literally a mountain mouse. Badger is from badge, in allusion
to the bands of white fur on its forehead. The verb meaning to badger is
derived from the old cruel sport of baiting badgers with dogs.

Monk