James Baquet

Becky is chatting with her classmate Lily in the common room of their dorm.

Becky: How are you doing, Lily?

Lily: Oh, I’m great! I love the holiday season!

Becky: Really? What’s your favorite thing about it?

Lily: No question: It’s turkey! First at Thanksgiving, then again at Christmas.

Becky: Yeah, I used to love it, too. But I’m a vegetarian now.

Lily: That’s too bad! But I guess it just means there’ll be more for me! But I have a question for you, do turkeys come from the country called Turkey?

Becky: No way. First, let’s talk about the name of the country. The people there are called “Turks” in some other languages, like Italian, Arabic, and even Farsi, the language of Persia.

Lily: Okay.

Becky: The term is not very precise and is used in different ways by different people. But since “Turkey” has come to mean “The Land of the Turks,” it’s pretty safe to call anyone from Turkey a Turk.

Lily: Okay. Now let’s talk about the birds.

Becky: Fine. I suppose you know that turkeys are native to North America, right?

Lily: Yes, I’ve heard that. Didn’t someone actually suggest it as the national bird, instead of the bald eagle?

Becky: That’s right! It was Benjamin Franklin, although he never said it publicly. It was in a private letter to his daughter.

Lily: I see. So, the name?

Becky: There are several theories, but one of the best is that the turkey looks a little like another bird, called the guinea fowl. It actually came from Guinea, in East Africa. But it was imported to Europe through —

Lily: Let me guess: Turkey?

Becky: That’s right! So some Europeans started calling the guinea fowl the “turkey fowl” and later, just “the turkey.”

Lily: I’m still with you!

Becky: Well, when the bird we now call “turkey” was brought from North America, they used the same name. But we use different names for each one now.

Lily: Does everyone call this bird “turkey,” or something like it?

Becky: Oh, no! It has lots of names. The Turkish people themselves call it “Hindi,” meaning “India.” The French also called it “The rooster of India,” or “coq d’Inde,” but this has been shortened to “dinde.” Lots of languages connect it to India.

Lily: Why India?

Becky: Remember, Columbus was trying to sail to India when he discovered North America. Some islands in the Caribbean Sea are still called “the West Indies.”

Lily: Oh, yeah.

Becky: Meanwhile, the name in Portuguese and some other languages means “Peru bird,” and the Malay name means “Dutch chicken.”

Lily: Wow! That bird really gets around!

Becky: It sure does!