gorilla 的詞源

“大猩猩”（Troglodytes gorilla）一詞最早出現於1847年，由美國傳教士托馬斯·薩維奇（Thomas Savage）用於描述一種大型猿類。這個詞源於希臘語 gorillai，是指一種野生、多毛的生物（現在被認爲是黑猩猩），在公元前500年左右的迦太基航海家漢諾（Hanno）的航海記錄的希臘文翻譯中出現。據說這是一個非洲詞彙。

In its inmost recess was an island similar to that formerly described, which contained in like manner a lake with another island, inhabited by a rude description of people. The females were much more numerous than the males, and had rough skins: our interpreters called them Gorillae. We pursued but could take none of the males; they all escaped to the top of precipices, which they mounted with ease, and threw down stones; we took three of the females, but they made such violent struggles, biting and tearing their captors, that we killed them, and stripped off the skins, which we carried to Carthage: being out of provisions we could go no further. [Hanno, "Periplus"]

“在最深處有一個類似於之前描述的島嶼，其中包含一個湖泊和另一個島嶼，由一羣粗魯的人居住。雌性比雄性多得多，皮膚粗糙：我們的翻譯稱它們爲 Gorillae。我們追趕了雄性，但沒有一個能夠被捕獲； 它們都輕鬆地爬上懸崖，扔下石頭； 我們抓住了三隻雌性，但它們掙扎得非常劇烈，咬和撕裂着它們的捕獵者，所以我們殺了它們，剝下了皮，帶回了迦太基：由於沒有食物，我們無法繼續前進。”[漢諾，“周航”]

從1884年開始，這個詞也用於形容看起來像大猩猩的人。