Let’s examine words for exotic animals. These often show greater similarity, for obvious reasons.
| A. Greek | Latin | Italian | English | Polish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| leon | leo | leone | lion | lew |
| leopardos | leopardus | leopardo | leopard | lampart |
| panther | panthera | pantera | panther | pantera |
| huaina | hyaena | iena | hyena | hiena |
| krokodeilos | crocodilus | coccodrillo | crocodile | krokodyl |
| elephas | elephantus | elefante | elephant | slon |
| rhinokeros | rhinoceros | rinoceronte | rhinoceros | nosorozec |
| hippotamos | hippopotamus | ippopotamo | hippopotamus | hipopotam |
| kamelopardalis | camelopardis | giraffa | giraffe | zyrafa |
| pithekos | simius | scimmia | monkey | malpa |
The last example is great because it serves as a counter-example to the others.
Latin simius came from the Greek word for “snub-nosed”.
English monkey came from a character’s name in Reynard the Fox.
Polish malpa comes from a German word meaning “gaping fool”.
In Polish, an @ is also called a malpa. I might start using that term.