panda

Forms

panda m (plural pandas)^[1]

Etymology

Its source is a Nepali name of the animal.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary calls the ultimate origin unclear but probably the second element of a compound name recorded by Brian Houghton Hodgson, which may go back to a regional use of Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya, “messenger”), the word's usual sense.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1824, in Frédéric Cuvier's Histoire des mammifères, as the name of an Asian mammal.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Panda first named the smaller animal of the Himalayas, now the petit panda;^[7][3] English took the word from French in 1835 in that sense.^[7][3] The black and white grand panda or panda géant, the rarer species, came to share the name; in English it is called giant panda from 1901, when the zoological relationship with the red panda had been established.^[3][2][7]

Timeline

• 1824 – Frédéric Cuvier names the animal.^[2][5]
• 1835 – English borrows the word from French.^[7]
• 1901 – First English mention of the giant panda.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A panda, a mammal of the temperate forests of Asia, related to the bears, that feeds on bamboo shoots.^[6][2][4]
2. Grand panda, panda géant: the giant panda, black and white, of the mountains of China.^[2][6][3]
3. Petit panda: the red or lesser panda.^[2][6]

Usage notes

Littré gives panda as the name of a Congo tree called the African cinchona (quinquina africain), a different word.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette