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aardvark
(redirected from Aardvarken)

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aardvark
the only living member of the order Tubulidentata. It is a 100 to 150 lb, 5 to 7 ft long animal with a long snout, a massive body, spadelike claws and a short, sparse haircoat. They are gray-brown in color, nocturnal in habit, live in burrows and exist mainly on a diet of ants. Called also earth pig, Orycteropus afer.
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It might be a translation from the Dutch word, aardvarken, meaning "earth pig," or it might have just been inspired by the observation "that this pudgy rodent burrows in the ground," the explanation says.
Does a hedgehog count? by The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Groundhog, for example, is commonly asserted to be a calque of Dutch aardvarken, which dissects into aarde 'ground, earth,' and varken 'hog, pig.
Alchemical calques or the transmutation of language by Schleifer, Rob / Verbatim
 
 
 
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