how did it get its name?
One of the original names for the dodo was the Dutch ""Walghvoghel"", first used in the journal of Dutch Vice Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck, the etymology of the word "dodo" is unclear. Some ascribe it to the Dutch word "dodoor" for "sluggard", but it is more probably related to "Dodaars", which means either "fat-arse" or "knot-arse", referring to the knot of feathers on the hind end
Dodo
One of the original names for the dodo was the Dutch ""Walghvoghel"", first used in the journal of Dutch Vice Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck, who visited Mauritius during the Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia in 1598. "Walghe" means "tasteless", "insipid", or "sickly", and means "bird". The name was translated by Jakob Friedlib into German as "Walchstök" or "Walchvögel". The original Dutch report titled "Waarachtige Beschryving" was lost, but the English translation survived:
Another account from that voyage, perhaps the first to mention the dodo, states that the Portuguese referred to them as penguins. The meaning may not have been derived from "penguin" (the Portuguese referred to those birds as ""fotilicaios"" at the time), but from "pinion", a reference to the small wings. The crew of the Dutch ship "Gelderland" referred to the bird as "Dronte" (meaning "swollen") in 1602, a name that is still used in some languages. This crew also called them "griff-eendt" and "kermisgans", in re
where did the dodo bird live before it was extinct Island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean who discovered it? UNANSWERABLE who described it? Danish zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt
wiki:1554951
Dodo [SEP] Etymology
One of the original names for the dodo was the Dutch ""Walghvoghel"", first used in the journal of Dutch Vice Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck, who visited Mauritius during the Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia in 1598. "Walghe" means "tasteless", "insipid", or "sickly", and means "bird". The name was translated by Jakob Friedlib into German as "Walchstök" or "Walchvögel". The original Dutch report titled "Waarachtige Beschryving" was lost, but the English translation survived: Another account from that voyage, perhaps the first to mention the dodo, states that the Portuguese referred to them as penguins. The meaning may not have been derived from "penguin" (the Portuguese referred to those birds as ""fotilicaios"" at the time), but from "pinion", a reference to the small wings.