ondatra

ondatra

See also: Ondatra

English

Etymology

From Huron / Wyandot[1] ondatra or ondathra, attested in Gabriel Sagard's 1632 French Dictionnaire de la langue huronne[2] and found in the Huron dialects of the Hochelaga region of Canada.[3]

Noun

ondatra (plural ondatras)

1. (chiefly US, Canada) The muskrat.
   • 1852, The Swiss Family Robinson, a translation of Johann David Wyss' German Der Schweizerische Robinson, chapter 39:

     The first was the musk-beaver, not much different from the ondatra, excepting in the formation of his snout.

References

1. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (1910), edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, part 2
2. Jean-Paul Colin, Trésors des mots exotiques (1986), page 98: "Du huron ondathra (1632); nom indigène du rat musqué ou rat d'Amérique, assez proche du castor, ..."
3. Handbook of Indians of Canada (1969 edition), edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, page 361: "Ondatra. A name for the muskrat (Fiber zibethicus), derived from one of the Huron dialects of the Iroquoian language early current in the Hochelaga region of Canada."

Anagrams

• adorant

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈondatra]

Noun

ondatra f

1. muskrat

Derived terms

• ondatří

Further reading

• ondatra in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• ondatra in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ondatra m (plural ondatras)

1. ondatra

Further reading

• “ondatra”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.