# Monkey (πίθηκος or μαϊμού)



## Jez2014

Hi, 

I am looking for the most accurate word in Greek for monkey (as in the animal that climbs trees!). I have seen two words in Greek: maimou and pithikos. Am I correct in saying that maimou (μαϊμού) is a *monkey* whereas pithikos (πίθηκος) is an *ape*? I have spoken to two Greek friends but they say different: one says pithikos is the best word for monkey the other says maimou means monkey and pithikos means ape..! Please help! It is vital that I have the best word for monkey and that I do not get the monkey and ape mixed up! 

Many thanks
Jeremy


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## Andrious

Till now I thought that monkey meant "μαϊμού". But I did a little search after your question and found out that some people translate monkeys as "πιθήκους". If I were you, still, I'd choose "μαϊμού".


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## sotos

Πίθηκος and μαιμού are the same. The difference is that the former is more formal and "proper", while the latter is more colloquial and oral, used in children's talk etc. You won't find μαϊμού in a scientific or legal text.


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## Ben Jamin

sotos said:


> Πίθηκος and μαιμού are the same. The difference is that the former is more formal and "proper", while the latter is more colloquial and oral, used in children's talk etc. You won't find μαϊμού in a scientific or legal text.


The Greek Wikipedia gives: Πίθηκος=ape and μαιμού= monkey.


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## sotos

Wikipedia is not a very reliable source. However, seeing here http://www.diffen.com/difference/Ape_vs_Monkey   an explanation for the difference between ape and monkey in english, I realised this: In Greek is unlikely that someone (other than a child) would call "maimou" a full-sized gorilla or urangutang, but could call "maimou" any other primate of small size, no matter if he is an ape or monkey in zoological english.


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## Ben Jamin

sotos said:


> Wikipedia is not a very reliable source.


It is surprising that an article on zoology could be written by a dilettante not using serious sources. Have you got a possibility to check it in a Greek encyklopaedia?


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## Perseas

This is how I perceive the term «μαϊμού»:  _μικρόσωμος, ευκίνητος πίθηκος με μακριά ουρά_ (small-sized, agile _πίθηκος_ with long tail)


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Ben Jamin said:


> It is surprising that an article on zoology could be written by a dilettante not using serious sources. Have you got a possibility to check it in a Greek encyklopaedia?



I agree with Ben Jamin in that it would be strange for the writer of the wikipedia article (http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Μαϊμού) to have erroneously used the word in the sentence Όλα τα πρωτεύοντα που δεν είναι προσιμιίδες ή πίθηκοι, είναι μαϊμούδες (All primates that are not prosimians or apes, are monkeys).

It seems obvious there exist different competing usages in Greek. Firstly, in "official" (i.e. katharevousa and usage derived from it) Greek μαϊμού is excluded as a foreign loan (Arabic "maymun" according to Bambiniotis - the alternative derivation from Ancient Greek μιμῶ smacks of folk/nationalist etymology). In Ancient Greek πίθηκος meant non-human primate in general, and I doubt Ancient Greeks ever saw e.g. a chimpanzee - more likely small-ish monkeys imported from the African continent, and they called them πίθηκοι. So as Sotos says, πίθηκος is the fancy word for both ape and monkey.

Secondly, unless the wikipedia entry is dead wrong, it seems likely that zoological Greek, faced with the problem of distinguishing between apes and monkeys, turned to the colloquial μαϊμού and adopted it for official use.

Hence I assume a child might call any non-human primate μαϊμού, an educated speaker wishing to sound as high-style and official as possible might use only πίθηκος, a zoologist would strictly differentiate between προσιμιίδες, μαϊμούδες and πίθηκοι and your average speaker has to make up his mind under these competing influences...

In conclusion: Jez2014, in order for the forum to make an informed ruling, you may need to provide us with a little more data about the context of use (are you writing a personal letter, an official document or what, and do you by any chance happen to have a particular primate species in mind? for example if you are talking about a pet monkey someone has or something)


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

...and thank you, Perseas, for providing us with yet another possibility, using μαϊμού as a subcategory of πίθηκος!

According to wikipedia the rule of thumb is indeed that μαϊμούδες have tails, but there are some species (like the Barbary monkey, erroneously - from the zoological point of view - commonly called the Barbary ape) which science counts as monkeys but do not have a tail.


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## Jez2014

Thank you everyone, amazingly informative and well researched answers, i am very grateful. Nikolaos, in answer to your question, I am somewhat embarrassed to answer as my reason for asking about the most accurate word for monkey seems rather silly given how much time your answers may have taken to formulate...But here goes....I have a Greek rescue cat called Markos; he is without doubt a monkey, and this has become his nickname. I want a tattoo of his nickname, Monkey, as Greek letters and words are very aesthetically pleasing (I also have a tattoo of my mum's name, Elini, in its original Greek lettering). I also thought it would be a tad more interesting than having 'Markos' as a tattoo. 

So I have needed to know which is the best spelling, so that I have a tattoo of 'monkey', rather than 'ape'! Either might seem a bit silly to have written as a tattoo (certainly would in English), but when written in Greek makes it look much more appealing..(until I visit Greece and am asked why I have a 'monkey' tattoo). 

What I take from the discussion, is that a more informal and lighthearted way to say 'monkey', or any small primate with a tail, it is best to got with μαϊμού??

This does raise another question- I am making an educated guess that μαϊμού cannot be written with a capital μ as this does not exist as such, other than as a M, which would change the meaning (or render it not a word)?


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Jez2014 said:


> Thank you everyone, amazingly informative and well researched answers, i am very grateful. Nikolaos, in answer to your question, I am somewhat embarrassed to answer as my reason for asking about the most accurate word for monkey seems rather silly given how much time your answers may have taken to formulate...But here goes....I have a Greek rescue cat called Markos; he is without doubt a monkey, and this has become his nickname. I want a tattoo of his nickname, Monkey, as Greek letters and words are very aesthetically pleasing (I also have a tattoo of my mum's name, Elini, in its original Greek lettering). I also thought it would be a tad more interesting than having 'Markos' as a tattoo.
> 
> So I have needed to know which is the best spelling, so that I have a tattoo of 'monkey', rather than 'ape'! Either might seem a bit silly to have written as a tattoo (certainly would in English), but when written in Greek makes it look much more appealing..(until I visit Greece and am asked why I have a 'monkey' tattoo).
> 
> What I take from the discussion, is that a more informal and lighthearted way to say 'monkey', or any small primate with a tail, it is best to got with μαϊμού??
> 
> This does raise another question- I am making an educated guess that μαϊμού cannot be written with a capital μ as this does not exist as such, other than as a M, which would change the meaning (or render it not a word)?



Thank you for the reply! Since this is the case and "Monkey" is an informal, endearing - (I'm looking for the word χαϊδευτικός in English?) - nickname, then you are right and Μαϊμού is without a doubt the word you are looking for, with all its connotations of smallness, cuteness and a penchant for climbing things. Πίθηκος doesn't fit here nearly as well. 

I don't really understand your last question - since "Monkey" is a name, why not write it Μαϊμού with a capital Μ?


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## Jez2014

Nikolaos_Kandidatos said:


> Thank you for the reply! Since this is the case and "Monkey" is an informal, endearing - (I'm looking for the word χαϊδευτικός in English?) - nickname, then you are right and Μαϊμού is without a doubt the word you are looking for, with all its connotations of smallness, cuteness and a penchant for climbing things. Πίθηκος doesn't fit here nearly as well.
> 
> I don't really understand your last question - since "Monkey" is a name, why not write it Μαϊμού with a capital Μ?



Thank you Nikolas, I will definitely go with the informal μαϊμού. Yes, the M makes sense now, my question was due to my lack of knowledge of Greek grammar, I didn't think you could substitute μ with M(I don't know why I thought that!), but given what you have said clearly you can...M is the capital of μ. That said, I like the look of the word in lower case..

Thank you for the time you've taken to reply.


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## Jez2014

Oh and re χαϊδευτικός, in English caress, that refers more to the physical,  'touch gently, lovingly' than characteristics


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Jez2014 said:


> Oh and re χαϊδευτικός, in English caress, that refers more to the physical,  'touch gently, lovingly' than characteristics



Hi,

χαϊδεύω means stroke, pet, caress, but χαϊδευτικό (όνομα) = pet name, nick name.

Now I understood the confusion about M - yes, as you figured out, M is the regular capital form of μ. Many Greek letters with standardized minuscule forms differing from the corresponding Latin minuscule forms have capital forms identical to the Latin equivalent - like μ,m = Μ, ζ,z = Ζ, ν,n = Ν, ε,e = Ε and so on...


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## Jez2014

Nikolaos_Kandidatos said:


> Hi,
> 
> χαϊδεύω means stroke, pet, caress, but χαϊδευτικό (όνομα) = pet name, nick name.
> 
> Now I understood the confusion about M - yes, as you figured out, M is the regular capital form of μ. Many Greek letters with standardized minuscule forms differing from the corresponding Latin minuscule forms have capital forms identical to the Latin equivalent - like μ,m = Μ, ζ,z = Ζ, ν,n = Ν, ε,e = Ε and so on...



For some reason I thought M was inconsistent with the rest of the letters that make up μαϊμού, 'M' being a modern equivalent of μ, but I now see that M is simply the capitol of μ and is consistent with the word as a name. This is so isn't it?!


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Jez2014 said:


> For some reason I thought M was inconsistent with the rest of the letters that make up μαϊμού, 'M' being a modern equivalent of μ, but I now see that M is simply the capitol of μ and is consistent with the word as a name. This is so isn't it?!



Precisely so. In all capitals μαϊμού is written ΜΑΪΜΟΥ.


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