Every November, millions of Americans sit down to a feast where the turkey takes center stage. But if you were to travel to Turkey, the country, and ask for a “turkey,” you wouldn’t get far. The bird we now associate with Thanksgiving is native to North America, not Turkey. So why the name?
The answer lies in a tangled web of trade routes, faulty geographical assumptions, and linguistic quirks. The bird’s name is a fascinating case study in how words travel across cultures and get reshaped along the way.
To start, we need to rewind to the 16th century, when European traders were encountering all kinds of exotic animals and foods from the Americas. The turkey, specifically, became caught up in the spice trade network, misidentified as an exotic transport from the East, and ended up with a name that had very little to do with its true origins.
A Game of Global Chinese Whisper
The turkey’s misnaming begins with an old trade route that passed through the Ottoman Empire, which controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. When European merchants encountered a bird that was originally brought from the Americas but reached them via Turkish traders, they mistakenly assumed it was a product of Turkey.
English speakers began referring to it as a “Turkey bird” or “Turkey cock,” associating it with the Ottoman trade routes. Over time, the name was shortened simply to “turkey,” cementing the misunderstanding into the English language.
But this wasn’t the only case of mistaken identity. In other parts of the world, people believed the turkey originated from an entirely different place.
- In French, the turkey is called poulet d’Inde, or “chicken from India.” The French, like many others in the 16th century, mistakenly believed the bird came from India rather than the Americas.
- Polish and Ukrainian follow a similar pattern, calling the turkey indyk, meaning “Indian bird.”
- Russian has a comparable name, indushka, again derived from the belief that the bird was from India.
- Meanwhile, in India, where the bird is decidedly not from, the name for turkey is Peru, named after the South American country.
This confusion largely stems from Christopher Columbus’ believing he had landed in India when he actually arrived in the Americas. That geographical error shaped European conceptions of the New World for centuries, and it left an amusing legacy in how various languages refer to the turkey.
The True Name of the Turkey
If we were to name the bird accurately based on its actual origins, we’d need to look to the indigenous people of the Americas. The domesticated turkey we eat today is a descendant of a bird first raised by the Aztecs over a thousand years ago.
The Aztecs had their own name for it: huehxolotl, roughly translates to “big monster.” In the indigenous Nahuatl language, this word reflected the turkey’s status as a large, important animal in their culture. The bird was not just a source of food but also played a role in religious ceremonies and artwork.
When Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s, they took the bird back to Europe, but by the time it reached English-speaking lands, it had already been filtered through multiple layers of renaming and mistaken identity.
Linguistic Leftovers: The Turkey’s Influence on Language
Not only did the turkey receive a geographically confused name, but it also gave us a curious phrase in modern English. The term “talking turkey” originally meant speaking plainly or getting down to serious business. Over time, it evolved into meaning straightforward, no-nonsense discussion. Ironically, the name “turkey” itself is anything but straightforward.
And then, of course, there’s the use of “turkey” as an insult. Calling someone a “turkey” suggests foolishness or failure, a meaning that took hold in the early 20th century. The connection is unclear, but some theories suggest it might stem from the bird’s awkward movements or the fact that wild turkeys were once considered difficult to hunt.
A Feast of Mistaken Identities
So, what’s in a name? In the turkey’s case, quite a bit of confusion, global trade mishaps, and linguistic evolution. The bird that should have been known as a “huehxolotl” or something closer to its native origins instead took on names associated with faraway lands that had nothing to do with it.
So the next time you carve up your turkey feast, don’t forget to regale yourself (and perhaps your friends) with a thought about the history of this bird’s name. Every meal tastes better with a side of quirky linguistic history.
