Welcome to Wednesday Words & Phrases: Thanksgiving Edition!

 

Today’s word is Turkey. Sure no military meaning behind it, but I thought it was kind of cool. So why not?

First The Turks

The first thing that you need to know is that the term Turkey had been used since the 1300’s to refer to any land that was occupied by the Turks. Officially the area was the Ottoman Empire until 1922 when the Republic of Turkey was established.

Now the Turkey

In the 1540s, guinea fowl, a type of bird that was imported from Madagascar through Turkey (anatolia or The Ottoman Empire), was commonly referred to as turkey. The bird most North Americans now enjoy on Thanksgiving received its name because it was identified as a species of the guinea fowl.

 

So yes, the country and the bird are related. Who knew?