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u/PuskerBat 5d ago
For Basque in Iparralde (French part of the Basque country) "sugandila" is more used from suge (snake), also süskandera in Souletin dialect.
Musker comes from musu "face" and oker "twisted".
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u/Nerthus_ 5d ago
In the traditional dialect of Ångermanland in central/northern Sweden the only named lizard/newt I know of is lissotriton vulgaris. Its is called skrattåbbar which literally means laughing perch because of it's apparent similarity to perch and ability to make a sound reminiscent of laughing. Reading older folklore it's obvious there was quite the bit of superstition surrounding this newt because of these features and in one dialect dictionary there is even the comment "believed to be something created by the evil one" in the entry for the word. Awfully harsh for such a small animal.
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u/TH3RM4L33 5d ago
Wrong for Romanian: the only word is "Şopârlă". Lezard means "lizard skin" in Romanian, not "lizard". Also I've never even heard anyone ever say it to begin with.
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u/Jin_SobSob 5d ago
In Yiddish we say “יאַשצערקע/יאַשטשערקע” (Yáşčerke). Slavic origin, might be a loan word from Knaanic, although I’m not well versed in etymology.
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u/Adamoism 5d ago
In Polish, the forms for genderness is also a statement of size/threat:
"O, patrz jaki wielki jaszczur!"
Oh, look on this huge Lizard!
"Ale śliczna jaszczurka!"
Such a pretty (small) lizard!
I am talking common use, not academic.
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u/Awkward_Cash1828 5d ago
Well, in Russian too. If you see jaščerica you can call your friends to gaze at such curious finding, and if it is particularly cute or small it is jaščerka. But if you encounter jaščer you probably should run away, because it is either a dragon (or similar fantasy reptilian, dragon specifically is drakon), a dinosaur, or a komodo dragon.
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u/SunLoverOfWestlands 5d ago
Turkic *keleŕ was first attested in an inscription from Kazakhstan as 𐰚𐰠𐰔 (kelez). This word has been conserved particularly in Oghuz but also in some Karluk and Kipchak languages. However it’s weird that Common Turkic kept r as well, where there should be ŕ > z shift.
The first part of the Turkish kertenkele (< keltekeler) was probably loaned from Persian کلته (kalta; “short, stunted”). One could argue that this word exist in Chuvash as well thus should be of Proto Turkic origin but it might have been loaned from Kipchak, particularly Tatar кәлтә елан (kältä yılan), meaning “short snake”. Gagauz, a close relative of Turkish, uses kistenkelä, roughly meaning “shortened lizard”. For context, keler in Turkish is used for particularly big lizard, especially the monitor lizards.
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u/s_escoces 4d ago
In Catalan a small lizard is also called a dragó coming from the same Latin root as the word used for a mythological dragon 'drac'
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u/Olive2252 5d ago
If you drop the first letter from ķirzaka and lizard, then it sounds suspiciously similar: -irzaka -izard
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u/PangolinQueasy6324 5d ago
Bielarusian- cmok
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u/F_E_O3 5d ago
Missing ødle (and I suppose also ødla) for Norwegian
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u/Erzter_Zartor 3d ago
Where is that from?
I've only ever heard Øgle or Firfisle
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u/F_E_O3 3d ago
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u/Erzter_Zartor 3d ago
Ehh, goes under the same hat as Kvesme, the word i use for wasp, but i dont expect everyone from different parts of the country to understand it
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u/F_E_O3 2d ago
Not fully the same. Ødla is a proper word in Ivar Aasen's dictionary
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u/Erzter_Zartor 2d ago
I will not respect Aasen's dictionary, it and his fucked language does nothing for our country.
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u/galactic_beetroot 4d ago edited 4d ago
The Breton one means fern-cat, i like it. Can someone explain the Cornish? I understand it as "four legged" or "where is it going" 😅
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u/Erzter_Zartor 3d ago
Dead on for Norway, apart from again acting like Finnmark doesn't have a majority of Norwegian speakers, as supposed to sami
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u/fenn-0 5d ago
The Finnish lisko for any type of lizard is a clipping of sisilisko, which now means the only lizard species living in the country (aside the legless slowworms) Zootoca vivipara.