javelina

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Spanish javalina, jabalina, feminine form of jabalí (wild boar), from Andalusian Arabic جَبَلِي (jabalī) (in خِنْزِير جَبَلِيّ (ḵinzīr jabaliyy, mountain pig)[1]), from Arabic جَبَل (jabal, mountain). Cognate with Portuguese javalina, and similar in other Iberian languages.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /havəˈliːnə/

Noun

javelina (plural javelinas)

  1. (Canada, US) A peccary (Tayassuidae spp.), especially a collared peccary (Dicotyles tajacu). [from 19th c.]
    • 1831, Benjamin Lundy, editor, The Genius of Universal Emancipation[1], page 117:
      The Javelina (Peccari) is an animal peculiar so far as I know to Spanish America.
    • 1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 174, column 2:
      Some well-mounted heads of deer and one of an enormous black javeli projected from the walls.
    • 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 264:
      We [] were ready to send some prickly pears to the next world when the most unfortunate group of javelina on earth walked into view.

References

  1. ^ The Arabic Contributions to the English Language: An Historical Dictionary, by Garland Hampton Cannon, Alan S. Kaye, p. 25

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French javeline.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Central) [ʒə.βəˈli.nə]
  • IPA(key): (Balearic) [ʒə.vəˈli.nə]
  • IPA(key): (Valencia) [d͡ʒa.veˈli.na]

Noun

javelina f (plural javelines)

  1. javelin

Further reading