What does chameleon really mean?
September 26, 2016 10:25 AM Subscribe
The word chameleon is often broken down to mean "lion on the ground," which is quite odd for what are generally tree-dwelling lizards. But if you look further at the etymology of its name, it indicates it could also mean "small lion," potentially because some have head-crests that could resemble a lion's mane. Oh, and people in Shakespeare's time thought chameleons ate only air, an idea that can be traced back to Pliny the Elder's description in Natural History. This notion of eating air, or surviving for long periods with no food, also fostered the notion that chameleons represented strength to survive, as possibly referenced in the Bible, so it could be that chameleon really meant "small lion" for its strength, not its appearance.
Then again maybe "chameleon" was named by someone who saw a Namaqua chameleon, or one similar to these brown to grey lizards that dwell in the western desert regions of Namibia, South Africa and southern Angola, often walking slowly across the ground. As seen illustrated as the chameleon of the Cape of Good Hope (Caméléon du Cap de Bonne Espérance) (Archive.org book view) in A relation of the voyage to Siam : performed by six Jesuits sent by the French king, to the Indies and China in the year 1685 by Guy Tachard, some renditions of the chameleon had a bit of neck frill, and it really does have a shorter tail than other chameleons.
All that said, Afrikaans common names for chameleons are likely more fitting: verkleurmannetjie (colorful little man) or trapsuutjie (treading carefully) (Google books preview of Chameleons of Southern Africa by Krystal Tolley, Marius Burger).
Then again maybe "chameleon" was named by someone who saw a Namaqua chameleon, or one similar to these brown to grey lizards that dwell in the western desert regions of Namibia, South Africa and southern Angola, often walking slowly across the ground. As seen illustrated as the chameleon of the Cape of Good Hope (Caméléon du Cap de Bonne Espérance) (Archive.org book view) in A relation of the voyage to Siam : performed by six Jesuits sent by the French king, to the Indies and China in the year 1685 by Guy Tachard, some renditions of the chameleon had a bit of neck frill, and it really does have a shorter tail than other chameleons.
All that said, Afrikaans common names for chameleons are likely more fitting: verkleurmannetjie (colorful little man) or trapsuutjie (treading carefully) (Google books preview of Chameleons of Southern Africa by Krystal Tolley, Marius Burger).
If you were hoping for more tropical chameleons in action, here's The Chameleons of Madagascar, a documentary (1 hr 18 min).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:29 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:29 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was going to post cute videos of chameleons, but first I found that the video of Laura the Chameleon popping bubbles was already posted, and chameleon means on the ground lion? That can't be right. So here we are.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:32 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:32 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Sorry, but khamai-leōn really does mean "lion on the ground" and not "small lion"; yes, there's a related adjective khamalos which can mean "low", but that's not the same as khamai, which can only mean "on the ground".
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 10:43 AM on September 26, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 10:43 AM on September 26, 2016 [5 favorites]
I always thought it meant "Swamp Thing"...
posted by Captain l'escalier at 10:48 AM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Captain l'escalier at 10:48 AM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
For many of us, it means "Very funky synth bass."
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:01 AM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:01 AM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
hoist with his own pet aardvark , thanks for the clarification. I admit I have no knowledge of Greek, so I relied on Etymology Online.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:07 AM on September 26, 2016
posted by filthy light thief at 11:07 AM on September 26, 2016
I've always though that the word chameleon meant "hella funky dancer".
posted by Hermione Granger at 11:13 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Hermione Granger at 11:13 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wonder if "lion on the ground" is meant to compare the chameleon's deliberate gait to the movements of a stalking lion.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:24 AM on September 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 11:24 AM on September 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
And for some of us, that chameleon bass is fretless (also the second Truman Capote reference today on the blue).
posted by Devonian at 12:05 PM on September 26, 2016
posted by Devonian at 12:05 PM on September 26, 2016
Only a first class anole could dislike this post.
posted by Herodios at 12:30 PM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Which is an excellent segue into "How the hell do you pronounce 'anole' anyway?"
posted by tobascodagama at 12:49 PM on September 26, 2016
posted by tobascodagama at 12:49 PM on September 26, 2016
Once, back in the pre-Beatle sixties, I went to the Shrine Circus and saw all kinds of interesting things; one was a hawker walking through the crowd selling live "chameleons" in little plastic boxes. These were, of course, green anoles.
In fact, one early chapter of my career as a nerd consisted of my futile attemps to explain to classmates the difference between an anole and a 'real' chameleon. You can't beat the logic [lizard] + [changes color] = [chameleon].
It might seem weird to think that you could buy a live animal from a guy who also sells crackerjacks and funny hats at the circus, but in those days you could buy a live chick or duckling with its feathers dyed by food coloring at Eastertime at a department store. So we've progressed in some ways.
Note: The word /chameleon/ is apparently included in whatever spelchekre my browser users, while /anole/ is not. The iniquity continues!
posted by Herodios at 1:27 PM on September 26, 2016
In fact, one early chapter of my career as a nerd consisted of my futile attemps to explain to classmates the difference between an anole and a 'real' chameleon. You can't beat the logic [lizard] + [changes color] = [chameleon].
It might seem weird to think that you could buy a live animal from a guy who also sells crackerjacks and funny hats at the circus, but in those days you could buy a live chick or duckling with its feathers dyed by food coloring at Eastertime at a department store. So we've progressed in some ways.
Note: The word /chameleon/ is apparently included in whatever spelchekre my browser users, while /anole/ is not. The iniquity continues!
posted by Herodios at 1:27 PM on September 26, 2016
I am now listening to SaltySalticid's link while watching Hermione Granger's links, and it is the best thing.
posted by mrgoat at 2:16 PM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by mrgoat at 2:16 PM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
And yet! Camelopard refers not to a ground leopard but the high leaf eating giraffe .
(Yes, I know, very different, dropped aitch, but as a fun word and semi-homonym, worth the OT, I thought. For more on camelopards and their etymology, read the comments in this older Languagehat post.)
posted by BWA at 2:46 PM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
(Yes, I know, very different, dropped aitch, but as a fun word and semi-homonym, worth the OT, I thought. For more on camelopards and their etymology, read the comments in this older Languagehat post.)
posted by BWA at 2:46 PM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
...which can only mean "on the ground".
That may very well be the circumstance here...but
The opinion of nearly every degreed linguist I met in 1990 (when I considered pursuing the degree) was etymology had long been "mined out" as a concentration. For a few years already, I had been collecting older dictionaries (actual editions) and etymological dictionaries (all reprints) and enjoyed their cross-reference for ambiguities and counter examples.
Through the 1950s, scholars pursued and widely published along a line of reasoning in terms of proto- origins (e.g. Indo-Germanic roots) and applied a convention of indicating supposition by denotation of an asterisk (*) to entries without extant example.
There is also an issue of phonetic values and written ones and its nuances are amazing. Widely adhered orthographies are a very recent phenomenon and, rationally, I am wary of definitive and exclusive claims.
Another interesting fact: After WWII, lexicographers around the world excitedly attended conferences about translations and references between the world's languages, but the Cold War put the kibosh on that business-- A Tower of Babel [once again :) ] halted as secular curiosity sought to evolve a qualitatively different world.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 6:12 PM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
That may very well be the circumstance here...but
The opinion of nearly every degreed linguist I met in 1990 (when I considered pursuing the degree) was etymology had long been "mined out" as a concentration. For a few years already, I had been collecting older dictionaries (actual editions) and etymological dictionaries (all reprints) and enjoyed their cross-reference for ambiguities and counter examples.
Through the 1950s, scholars pursued and widely published along a line of reasoning in terms of proto- origins (e.g. Indo-Germanic roots) and applied a convention of indicating supposition by denotation of an asterisk (*) to entries without extant example.
There is also an issue of phonetic values and written ones and its nuances are amazing. Widely adhered orthographies are a very recent phenomenon and, rationally, I am wary of definitive and exclusive claims.
Another interesting fact: After WWII, lexicographers around the world excitedly attended conferences about translations and references between the world's languages, but the Cold War put the kibosh on that business-- A Tower of Babel [once again :) ] halted as secular curiosity sought to evolve a qualitatively different world.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 6:12 PM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
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*sexy times music plays slowly*
posted by Fizz at 10:29 AM on September 26, 2016 [5 favorites]