I tell the (admittedly obscure) tale I heard told …
The remains of a 2,000-year-old rabbit - found at an early Roman settlement at Lynford, Norfolk - may be the earliest example of rabbit remains in Britain.
The bones - which show evidence the animal had been butchered and buried - are similar to those of a small Spanish rabbit, common in Roman times.
It is thought rabbits were introduced to Britain following the Roman invasion in AD43.
Full story here.
Some of the search queries that brought people to this site:
As a bonus, here is another Nepali dictionary.
Some info about Cherokee language revival through immersion classes (note that the Cherokee word for rabbit makes an appearance):
The program started in fall 2003 with kindergarten and classes for 3-year-olds. This year the program expanded to include first grade.
“We do what other classes do but it’s all in Cherokee,” says Anna Christie who teaches a combined kindergarten and first-grade class at the school. Ms. Christie talks to them in Cherokee, calling the children by their Indian names. At naptime, she tells Matthew Keener or “Yo-na” (Bear) not to put his mat too close to Lane Smith “A-wi” (Deer).
Cherokee songs play softly in the room. A Cherokee calendar hangs on the wall. Students practice writing words and numbers in Cherokee. First grader Casandra Copeland, “Ji-s-du” (Rabbit), counts aloud in Cherokee.
It’s called an immersion class because the children speak nothing but Cherokee. The Cherokee Nation in nearby Tahlequah, Oklahoma creates the curriculum.
This post at Tenser, said the Tensor about Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom (which I used to enjoy watching as a kid) put me in mind of the Omaha, or Ponka, language. It is a Siouan language of the Dhegiha branch and is closely related to Osage and Kansa. Some Omaha resources:
Some time ago, I purchased a copy of Hymns in the Omaha Language (1887), by William Hamilton. Click more to see a transcription of one of them. The English text is available at the CyberHymnal, as are midi files for several melodies written for it. At some point, I hope to generate a glossed version.
I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t know February was “Adopt A Rescued Rabbit Month”. Adoptable bunnies can be found at Petfinder. Just remember NOT to give real rabbits for gifts at Easter - only chocolate ones.
Gomphos elkema, a 55 million year old rabbit-like animal, was discovered recently in Mongolia.
“Gomphos had a true ‘rabbit’s foot’; that is, a foot more than twice as long as the hand that could be used for hopping.”
But the ancient creature did have some traits that were unlike its modern relative. For example, Gomphos had quite a big tail and some of its teeth were more squirrel-like than rabbit-like.
According to the OED, the word rabbit has a northern French origin, as can be seen in the Walloon robett, showing up in Middle English as rabet. It might be related to Fr. rabouillère, the burrow in which kits are raised. Its first documented appearance English is in John de Trevisa’s translation of De proprietatibus rerum:
Conynges..bringeþ forþe many rabettes & multiplieþ ful swiþe.
Interestingly, this sentence contains an early appearance another word for rabbit, cony (first documented a century earlier than rabbit), which comes from Latin cuniculus, rabbit or underground passage. In this case, the quotation shows how older rabbits were called coneys, while rabbit referred to younger animals.
An alternate spelling, coney, shows that Coney Island was once overrun by rabbits. The Dutch originally called it Konijn Eiland, which became Conyne Island, and then the modern Coney Island. There are some sparse references to it as Congu, which suggests the possibility of an alternate derivation.
Lastly, a coney is a conman’s gull. Thus, this picture shows a cony getting ready to fleece a coney.
Lionhead rabbits are a new breed of rabbit that have manes. I’d like to get one, but the ones I see are still somewhat expensive.
Well, it’s kralikas in Lithuanian, umvundia in Xhosa, ometochtli in Nahuatl, and youn in Burmese. Find out what these refer to at this page.
Lagomorphese, or bunny speak, to use the scientific term.
Once again, Ethnologue is caught napping.