ey is from the same root as _monna_, a woman; more especially an old
crone, in reference to the fancied resemblance of the weazened face of a
monkey to that of a withered old woman. Madam and madonna are other forms
of words from the same root, so wide and sweeping are the changes in
meaning which usage and time can give to words.

Squirrel has a poetic origin in the Greek language; its original meaning
being shadow-tail. Tiger is far more intricate. The old Persian word _tir_
meant arrow, while _tighra_ signified sharp. The application to this great
animal was in allusion to the swiftness with which the tiger leaps upon
his prey. The river Tigris, meaning literally the river Arrow, is named
thus from the swiftness of its current.

As to the names of reptiles it is, of course, to the Romans that we are
chiefly indebted, as in the case of reptile from _reptilus_, meaning
creeping; and crocodile from _dilus_, a lizard. Serpent is also from the
Latin _serpens_, creeping, and this from the old Sanskrit root, _sarp_,
with the same meaning. This application of the idea of creeping is again
found in the word snake, which originally came from the Sanskrit _naga_.

Tortoise harks back to the Latin _tortus_, meaning twisted (hence our word
tortuous) and came to be applied to these slow creatures because of their
twisted legs. In its evolution through many tongues it has suffered
numbers of variations; one of these being turtle, which we use to-day to
designate the smaller land tortoises. Terrapin and its old forms
_terrapene_ and _turpin_, on the contrary, originated in the New World, in
the language of the American Redskin.

_Cobra-de-capello_ is Portuguese for hooded snake, while python is far
older, the same word being used by the Greeks to denote a spirit, demon,
or evil-soothsayer. This name was really given to designate any species of
large serpent. _Boa_ is Latin and was also applied to a large snake, while
the importance of the character of size is seen, perhaps, in our words
_bos_ and _bovine_.

The word viper is interesting; coming directly from the Romans, who wrote
it _vipera_. This in turn is a contraction of the feminine form of the
adjective _vivipera_, in reference to the habit of these snakes of
bringing forth their young alive.

Lizard, through such forms as _lesarde_, _lezard_, _lagarto_, _lacerto_,
is from the Latin _lacertus_, a lizard; while closely related is the word
alligator by way of _lagarto_, _al