Introduction
After being literally translated into english, the name of the Turkey (bird) follow some interesting pattern.
- In english, they are called "Turkey".
- In turkish, they are called "Hindi".
- In hindi, they are called "Peru".
- In arabic, they are called "Greek Chicken".
- In greek, they are called "French Chicken".
- In french they are called "Indian chicken".
The (wild) turkey is native from North America though (wiki). My question has been motivated by this 9gag post. I haven't double check their claims but I can tell it is correct in english and in french. In french they used to be called "Poule d'Inde" and by contraction they are now called "Dinde".
Question
What is the reason for such pattern?
Is it just pure randomness? Among all things that we name, there must be at least one that follow some kind of remarkable pattern.
Does it reflect the history of Turkeys consumption? We might eventually be able to trace back the origin of the domestication through the names. If we assume that the names "Turkey" and "Peru" are coincidences, we may think that the indian first domesticated the Turkeys, followed by the French, Greeks and Arabs. However, it doesn't seem to match the history of Turkeys domestication (wiki). It is a slightly better fit if we consider the the term "Indian chicken" (in french) refers to the american first nations and not to India.
Is there some other reason?