# seal (animal)



## Tamar

Hi!
What do you call a seal in your language and what does it mean literally?

In Hebrew it כלב-ים kelev-yam literally: dog-sea. 
Meaning to say, it's a dog of the sea 

I Dutch it's the same, only the word order is different; zeehond
It's one word consisting of "sea" and "dog". 

In Hawaiian it's ʻIlioholoikauaua which means "dog that runs in rough water". 

In Russian I know that it's a "sea-cat" but I don't know the word itself, would love if someone could talk about that. 

Thanks!


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## cherine

Tamar said:


> Hi!
> What do you call a seal in your language and what does it mean literally?
> 
> In Hebrew it כלב-ים kelev-yam literally: dog-sea.
> Meaning to say, it's a dog of the sea


Same in Arabic كلب البحر kalbu'l-baHar = the dog of the sea.


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## Dymn

No such metaphor in Romance languages, the word comes from Latin _phoca_, and at its turn from Greek _φώκη _(of unknown origin): Catalan, Spanish and Italian _foca_, French _phoque_, etc.


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## Olaszinhok

Dymn said:


> _foca_, French _phoque_,


Yes, in Catalan, Spanish and Italian _foca_ is feminine, while in French it is masculine _le phoque_.


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## ilocas2

Czech: *tuleň*

loanword from Russian


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## Saley

Tamar said:


> In Russian I know that it's a "sea-cat" but I don't know the word itself, would love if someone could talk about that.


*Russian* generic term for _seal_ is *тюлень* [tʲʉˈlʲenʲ] of uncertain etymology. There are two families — Otariidae and Phocidae — whose members are referred to by non-zoologists as _тюлень_, just like in English all of them are called _seals_ (i.e. _walrus_ = _морж_ [morʂ] doesn’t belong to them).

_Морские котики_ (“sea cats”, Arctocephalinae = fur seals) and _морские львы_ (“sea lions”, Otariinae = sea lions) are subfamilies of Otariidae, each comprising several species.


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## Hercules Grytpype-Thynne

Dymn said:


> No such metaphor in Romance languages, the word comes from Latin _phoca_, and at its turn from Greek _φώκη _(of unknown origin): Catalan, Spanish and Italian _foca_, French _phoque_, etc.


Latin also had the native term _vitulus marinus_, cited in Juvenal and Suetonius by the Lewis & Short dictionary.  It meant "sea calf".


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## apmoy70

Dymn said:


> No such metaphor in Romance languages, the word comes from Latin _phoca_, and at its turn from Greek _φώκη... _


... which in Modern Greek is *«φώκια»* [ˈfoca] (fem.).
Pejoratively is used as a belittling word for the extremely obese woman.


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## Hercules Grytpype-Thynne

Basque: _itsas txakur_, literally "sea-dog".


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## bibax

ilocas2 said:


> Czech: *tuleň*
> 
> loanword from Russian


An older term was *mořské tele* = sea calf, probably a calque from Latin (vitulus marinus).

tele ~ tuleň, sounds quite similar;


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## ilocas2

Dymn said:


> No such metaphor in Romance languages, the word comes from Latin _phoca_, and at its turn from Greek _φώκη _(of unknown origin): Catalan, Spanish and Italian _foca_, French _phoque_, etc.



Sorry, you are native speaker, but an artice on Catalan Wikipedia mentions plenty such names - vellmarí, bou marí, ca marí, llop marí, vaca marina, porc marí


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## Ghabi

*Cantonese/Written Chinese:*
earless seals: hoi2paau3 海豹 "sea-leopard"
eared seals: hoi2si1 海獅 "sea-lion"
fur seals: hoi2gau2 海狗 "sea-dog"


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## Olaszinhok

ilocas2 said:


> Sorry, you are native speaker, but an artice on Catalan Wikipedia mentions plenty such names - vellmarí, bou marí, ca marí, llop marí, vaca marina, porc marí


In the above article, they say that the seal *used to have* such names as well, probably these names are no longer used in contemporary Catalan. However, let's wait for the native speakers' opinion.


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## ilocas2

This is said in the third sentence. The first sentence starts "Les *foques*, *vells marins* o *serenes* en rossellonès (Phocidae) són la família de carnívors..."

There seems to be difference between *vellmarí* (used in the past) and *vell marí* (used also nowadays)


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## Dymn

_Foca _is the "standard" word, others may exist though. Since I'm not familiar with such kind of species, I don't know about their usage. I thought, anyway, that _ca marí "_seadog", was a popular name for "shark" (the standard name is _tauró, cf. _Spanish _tiburón_, Portugese _tubarão_, etc.).


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## ilocas2

This is like in Croatian where *morski pas* (sea dog) is standard name for shark.


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## Olaszinhok

In Italian we have _pescecane_ (dogfish) and_ squalo_ for "shark".


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## Stoggler

Welsh for seal is *morlo* (which is a compound meaning _sea-calf_).

Welsh for shark is *morgi* (another compound, meaning _sea-dog_)*.

Welsh for _sea_ is *môr*, calf is *llo*, and dog is *ci*.  The change in consonant in the second element is due to mutation.  I'm not sure why the circumflex of môr is lost in the compounds.

*there is also the word siarc, borrowed from English.


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## ilocas2

The only seal living in Croatia is Mediterranean monk seal

the standard name is *sredozemna medvjedica* (Mediterranean female bear), other names - *morski medvid* (sea bear), *morsko tele* (sea calf), *morski čovik* (sea human), *morski fratar* (sea friar), *Adriana*...


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## jazyk

Foca in Portuguese as well. Foka in Polish. Fóka in Hungarian.


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## franknagy

Dymn said:


> No such metaphor in Romance languages, the word comes from Latin _phoca_, and at its turn from Greek _φώκη _(of unknown origin): Catalan, Spanish and Italian _foca_, French _phoque_, etc.


Hungarian: "fóka".


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## Armas

Finnish: _hylje_. The best guesses about etymology are from _hylätä_ "to abandon" or from Proto-Germanic *_selχaz_. The ringed seal is _norppa_ and the grey seal is _halli_, from a word meaning grey.


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## franknagy

The *walrus* is in Hungarian: *"rozmár".*
Let me continue the thread with this animal.


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## apmoy70

franknagy said:


> The *walrus* is in Hungarian: *"rozmár".*
> Let me continue the thread with this animal.


In MoGr it's *«θαλάσσιος ίππος»* [θaˈlasi.os ˈipos] (both masc.) --> _sea-horse_.
Τhe ancient Greeks called the animal *«ὀδόβαινος» ŏdόbai̯nŏs* (masc.) --> lit. _walking teeth (tusks)_ from *«ὀδούς» ŏdoús* + *«βαίνω» baí̯nō*.


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## bibax

Czech: (earless) seal = *tuleň* (< тюлень), eared seal (otary) = *lachtan* (< лахтак, лафтак), walrus = *mrož* (< морж);

These animals were unknown for the inhabitants of Bohemia & Moravia (landlocked and situated in Central Europe).
The terms were borrowed from Russian, artificially introduced by Presl in the 19th century.

As a term for the seal Presl originally had proposed *teleň* (a hybrid of Czech/Slavic *tele* _calf_ and Russian *ťuleň* _seal_), but he eventually changed his mind in favour of more Russian *tuleň*.

As the term *mrož* (walrus, морж) resembles the participle *mražený* = frozen (in Russian *мороженое* = ice cream), it is also a trade mark of ice cream on the wooden stick (like Eskymo or Nanuk <  Nanook of the North).


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## Dymn

*Catalan
*
The pinniped family:

Odobenidae: 
"Walrus": _morsa_, ultimately from Sami.

Otaridae: 
"Sea lion": _lleó marí_, "sea lion"
"Fur seal": _ós marí_, "sea bear"

Phocidae:
"[Earless] seal": _foca_


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## Hans Molenslag

Tamar said:


> I Dutch it's the same, only the word order is different; zeehond
> It's one word consisting of "sea" and "dog".


Another Dutch word for seal is _rob_ (pl. _robben_), of uncertain etymology, which is primarily used in biological names of different seal species, e.g. _ringelrob_ (ringed seal, _Pusa hispida_). It's used in Afrikaans too, hence _Robbeneiland_, or _Robben Island_ in English, literally Seal Island. It's the island off the coast of Cape Town where Mandela was imprisoned.


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## apmoy70

apmoy70 said:


> In MoGr it's «θαλάσσιος ίππος» [θaˈlasi.os ˈipos] (both masc.) --> sea-horse.
> Τhe ancient Greeks called the animal «ὀδόβαινος» ŏdόbai̯nŏs (masc.) --> lit. walking teeth (tusks) from «ὀδούς» ŏdoús + «βαίνω» baí̯nō.


...οr *«θαλάσσιος ελέφας»* [θaˈlasi.os eˈlefas] (both masc.), colloq. *«...ελέφαντας»* [eˈlefandas] --> _sea-elephant_.
I get why the animal is called _sea-elephant_ with its tusks and whatnot, I have no idea why it's called _sea-horse_.



bibax said:


> Czech:... eared seal (otary) = *lachtan* (< лахтак, лафтак)...


That would be *«θαλάσσιος λέων»* [θaˈlasi.os ˈle.on] (both masc.), colloq. *«...λέοντας»* [ˈle.ondas] --> _sea-lion_.


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## franknagy

The *"fóka" *means in the jargon of the Hungarian army *"floor-cloth".*
The* "rozmár"* meas a big, dense and untidy *mustache.*


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## Demiurg

German:
seal: Seehund (sea-dog)
walrus: Walross (whale-horse)


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## ilocas2

According to Wiki Seehund is only one species of seals. - Robben – Wikipedia


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## Dymn

Hans Molenslag said:


> Another Dutch word for seal is _rob_ (pl. _robben_),





ilocas2 said:


> Robben – Wikipedia


Hence the name of Pingu's character Robby, which is a seal, I guess.


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## ilocas2

And the name of a famous Dutch footballer Arjen Robben means Arjen Seals.


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## SuperXW

Ghabi said:


> *Cantonese/Written Chinese:*
> earless seals: hoi2paau3 海豹 "sea-leopard"
> eared seals: hoi2si1 海獅 "sea-lion"
> fur seals: hoi2gau2 海狗 "sea-dog"


Maybe they should be classified like this, but as far as I know, most people can't distinguish them at all.
By the way, there still are:
海象 "sea-elephant": walrus
海牛 "sea-cow": manatee 
海马 “sea-horse”: sea horse
海豚 "sea-swine": dolphine


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## ThomasK

I love the Mandarin sea zoo/ sea farm! In Dutch we just have _*zeehond*_, sea-dog, and _*walrus*_.


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