I’ve always thought it was strange that the English word for the bird commonly eaten on Thanksgiving is “turkey,” since it did not originate from the Mediterranean country of the same name, but is native to North America. Upon further research, I’ve found that the early European settlers came up with the name because of the American bird’s resemblance to the African Helmeted Guineafowl, also known as the turkey-cock.

Confusion over the provenance of this particular bird is not limited to the English language, however; many other languages, including Turkish, have geographically related names for the Thanksgiving bird that are just as mixed up as ours. This information comes mostly from the Wikipedia, along with somewhat contradictory statements from the Linguist List (here and here).

Names Referring to India

Turkish: Hindi (from/related to India)

Hindi (from/related to India) French: Poulet d’inde (chicken from India)

Poulet d’inde (chicken from India) Catalan: Gall dindi (Indian chicken)

Gall dindi (Indian chicken) Hebrew: Tarnegol hodu (Indian chicken)

Tarnegol hodu (Indian chicken) Russian: Indiuk

Indiuk Polish: Indyk

Indyk Yiddish: Indik

Indik Maltese: Dundjan

Dundjan Dutch: Kalkoen (from the Indian city of Calicut)

Kalkoen (from the Indian city of Calicut) Bahasa Indonesia: Ayam kalkun (bird + reference to Calicut)

Ayam kalkun (bird + reference to Calicut) Danish: Kalkun (see Dutch)

Kalkun (see Dutch) Swedish: Kalkon (see Dutch)

Kalkon (see Dutch) Low German: Kalkuun (see Dutch)

Kalkuun (see Dutch) Finnish: Kalakuna (see Dutch)

Names Referring to France

Greek: Gallopoula (French bird) [According to some sources, it’s a different word meaning “Egyptian rooster.”]

Gallopoula (French bird) [According to some sources, it’s a different word meaning “Egyptian rooster.”] Scottish Gaelic: Cearc frangach (French chicken)

Other Countries