Shrew Dictionary:Please contribute!

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English: Shrews (Shrew)

German: Spitzmäuse (Spitzmaus)

Dutch: Spitsmuizen (Spitsmuis)

French: Musaraignes (Musaraigne)

Macedonian: Rijacki

Serb: Rovcici

Croatian: Rovka

Italian: Toporagni (Toporagno) (spider-mouse)

Swedish: Näbbmus (Näbbmöss) (mouse with a beak)

Norwegian: Spissmus (sing. & plural)

Spanish: Musarañas (Musaraña)(n with tilde) (this is for Crocidura & Sorex; for Neomys = Musgaño, for Suncus = Musarañita).Cryptotis sp. in Columbia

Spanish in Baja California = Topociego (not certain: this could be a local variant or the source could have not known the difference between moles and shrews = would mean blind mole)

Chinese: Ju Qin

Czech: Rejskoviti ( rejsci (rejsek) for Soricinae / belozubky (belozubka) for Crocidurinae / rejskoci (rejskovec) for Scutisoricinae: {Sorex araneus - rejsek obecny / S. minutus - r. maly / S. caecutiens - r. prostredni / S. alpinus - r. horsky / S. cinereus - r. sedy / S. palustris - r. bazinny / S. minutissimus - r. nejmensi / S. arcticus - r. severni / Microsorex hoyi - r. zakrsly / Soriculus nigrescens - r. sikkimsky / Neomys fodiens - r. vodni / N. anomalus - r. cerny / Blarina brevicauda - r. kratkoocasy / Cryptotis parva - r. kratkouchy / Notiosorex crawfordi - r. stepni ##/## Crocidura leucodon - belozubka belobricha / C. russula - b. tmava / C. suaveolens - b. seda / C. caudata - B. dlouhoocasa / C. lasiura - B. velka / Suncus etruscus - b. nejmensi / S. murinus - b. hneda / Praesorex goliath - b. obrovska / Diplomesodon pulchellum - b. poustni / Anourosorex squamipes - b. vodni / Chimarrogale platycephala - b. horska ##/## Scutisorex congicus - rejskovec kratkoocasy}

Euskera (basque): Satitsuak (Satitsu) (Neomys = Ur-Satitsuak)

Russian: Zemlerojki (=Zemleroiki) (Zemlerojka) (soil digger). Sorex araneus = Zemlerojka Obiknoennaja

Ukrainian: Zemleryjky (=Zemleroiki) (Zemleryjka)

Polish: Ryjowki (Ryjowka)

Hausa: Bera

Jukun: Fyer mol

Hone: Ashwi

Afrikaans: Skeerbekmuizen(Skeerbekmuis) or Skeerbek

Estonian: Karihiired (Karihiir) (mouse living in groups)

Latvian: Cirslis

Lithuanian: Kirstukas

Hungarian: Cickany (Cicany) (Cickanyok)

Portuguese (also in Brazil): Musaranhos (Musaranho)

Arabic: Fa'rat Assum (singular) (poison mouse), also: El Zabeba

Welsh: Llygod (Llyg)

From: "Natasha de Chroustchoff" <nchroustchoff@hotmail.com>

Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 14:41:54 -0000

Nomenclature.  a.The Welsh word llygod in your shrew dictionary strictly speaking means a mouse, but is also applied generically to all small rodents e.g. llygod fawr (big mouse) = rat. The correct Welsh word for shrew is, I believe, chwistl or chwistlen (pl. chwistlod). b.On the border of England and Wales where I grew up a dialect word hardistraw was occasionally used for a shrew. It is recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary, along with several similar versions, the first recorded written usage being in 1601.. It would be interesting to know whether other people have come across this usage, or any other unusual words for shrews in their respective languages.
 

Mandarin: Chen-shu (the first word is said like a question - rising tone the second word is said with falling and rising tone)

Taiwanese: Chi-chhi (the first word is said through your nose and sounds like "ji" the second word is said in a sharp falling tone and sounds like "Chi"

Hindi: Chachundar or chuchunder (refers to the Genus Suncus)

Marathi: Chichundri (refers to the Genus Suncus)

Tamil: Moonjoor, Mookeli (mook' -nose; yeli- rat: therefore "nose rat") (refers to the Genus Suncus) probably mookeli in the other south indian languages (kannanda, malayalam) as well, but i will have to confirm that. It is cited as "chundeli" (small rat; usually used to describe mice) in some descriptions, but this may the inability of the native speakers to distinguish between shrews and mice. or a mistake made by researchers in translation

Japanese: Togari-Nezumi (sharp-nosed mouse) (usually for the genus Sorex; however, the term is also used to represent the whole Soricidae famiy. This is probably because the Japanese language does not originally have a right word to represent the whole family and we academically substitute the term "Togari-nezumi" for it. So, the latter usage is not very natural but rather artificial (or scientific). When we want to be strict, we use togari-nezumi-ka (ka: family) for Soricidae and togari-nezumi-rui (rui: group) or -zoku (zoku: genus) for Sorex. Shrews of Crocidura =Ji-Nezumi shrews of Suncus =Jyakou-Nezumi shrews of Chimarrogale =Kawa-Nezumi Taiwanese mole shrew, Anourosorex, as "Mogura-Jinezumi" (mogura= mole) but for Eurasian water shrew, Neomys, as "Mizu-Togarinezumi" (mizu=water)

Nepalese: Chhuchundro. House shrew is "Ghar Chhuchundro" and water shrew is "Pani Chhuchundoro" (pani=water)

Canarese: Sondeli (refers to the Genus Suncus)

Malayan: Kondeli or Chenchurur (Suncus murinus = Chenchurut Rumah, Suncus hosei = Chenchurut Kechil, Crocidura foetida = Chenchurut Hutan, Crocidura baluensis = Chenchurut Kinabalu, Chimarrogale phaeura = Chenchurut Ayer)

Cingalese: Kune-Miyo

Kashmiri: Anachiwagagar

Burmese: Kywek-Tsut

Kol: Chundi - Note that water-shrew, C. himalayica, is named differently

Lepcha: Ung Lagniyu

Bhutia: Chupitsi

Inuit & Inupiaq: Ugyunak (singular). (Of interest is the fact that the name for a bearded seal is "oogjuk" and may be based on the local's recognition of similar body forms for seals and shrews.) / Ukounavik (Labrador: Packard 1866, p. 266) / U-gu-gi-nuk (Alaska)

Chamarro (Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific): Cha'kan Akaleha' (shrews were accidentally introduced to the Mariana Islands sometime in the 1940's or 1950's) (Cha'kan being the name for rat or any small rodent-like animal and Akaleha' meaning specifically the shrew) (Refers to Suncus murinus)

Taos Pueblo Indians: Pah-ka-che-una (for: Sorex obscurus obscurus, now S. monticolus)

Navaho Indians: Tse-nis-na-sa (for: Sorex vagrans monticola, now S. monticolus)

Cheppewas : Oke-pa-ku-kue (or: Oke-pa-kue-kue)

Klamath Indians: Shu-zhi

Kwakiool Indians: Kiap-kepu-s (Dawson 1888, p.83)

Tagalog: Bubuwit (for Suncus murinus). (Tagalog is spoken in and around Manila in the Philippines, and serves to some degree as a national language.)

Korean: Tatt-gwii

Greek: Mighales (Mighali)

Romanian: CHITORLAN (masc., sg.), with the plural CHITORLANI (an archaism which is not used or known anymore). A contemporary word and probably known to Romanians, is CHITCAN (masc., sg.), with the plural CHITCANI (masc.). The CHITCAN word family is: - CHITCANEAN (adj, masc, sg), CHITCANENI (adj, masc, pl) - CHITCANEANA (adj, fem, sg), CHITCANENE (adj, fem, pl) - CHITCANEANCA (fem, sg) - CHITCANENCEI (masc, sg), CHITCANENCENE (fem, pl)

Hebrew:Hadafim (Hadaf)

Sango: "Colofia" (Central Africa)

Baminga: "Tengue" (Central Africa)

Scientific names: Mammal Species of the World Home Page

Shrew from On-line Medical Dictionary

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