TURKEY

In the years before Columbus sailed to the Americas, a large bird was being imported into Europe from Africa.  It was a guinea fowl - guinea cock and guinea hen.  These guinea fowl were often brought to Europe by merchants who traveled through the Ottoman Empire, an area commonly known as Turkey, the major country of the Empire.

Because the birds were imported through Turkey, the Europeans began calling the guinea fowl a "turkey cock" or "turkey hen."  It was eventually shortened to turkey.

When the European settlers came to the New World and saw the large birds native to the Americas, they thought they were the same as those they called turkeys in Europe.  The name stuck.

From an entry four years ago:

Turkey facts:

"Only male turkeys gobble."   I bet it's the females that make them gobble.

"Turkeys can see better than humans."  I'm surprised they know the letters on the eye chart?

"You can identify if a turkey is male or female by it's poop."  Well, I can't but maybe you can.

"After the President pardoned the two turkeys in 2021, they were sent to Purdue University."  For higher education, I suppose!  

"Benjamin Franklin preferred the turkey to the bald eagle."   Would we have been eating eagle at Thanksgiving?