guinea pig的词源

英文词源

guinea pig (n.)

rodent native to South America, 1660s. It does not come from Guinea and has nothing to do with the pig. Perhaps so called either because it was brought back to Britain aboard Guinea-men, ships that plied the triangle trade between England, Guinea, and South America [Barnhart, Klein], or from its resemblance to the young of the Guinea-hog "river pig" [OED], or from confusion of Guinea with the South American region of Guyana (but OED is against this). Pig probably for its grunting noises. In the extended sense of "one subjected to an experiment" it is first recorded 1920, because they were commonly used in medical experiments (by 1865).

中文词源

guinea pig：天竺鼠，豚鼠

词源众多。比较容易接受的是来自法属殖民地西印度群岛Guyana的拼写讹误，因形似小猪而得名。同时，该动物可叫做荷兰猪，西班牙鼠等。比较中国的荷兰豆在荷兰叫做中国豆。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：guinea pig 词源，guinea pig 含义。