hippopotamus
(hɪpəʊˈpɒtəməs)
Pl. -muses, -mi. Forms: α. 4 ypotame, -tamos, -tanos, -tanus, 5 ypotam, ipotayne, (pl. ypotamy), 6–7 hippotame, (6 hyppotame, hippotamon). β. 6–7 hippopotame, (7 hippopotum, -potamy, hyppopotamus), 7– hippopotamus, (8–9 -os).
[a. late L. hippopotamus, a. late Gr. ἱπποπόταµος (Galen), f. ἵππο-ς horse + ποταµός river. (The earlier Gr. writers used ὁ ἵππος ὁ ποτάµιος the riverine horse.) The earlier Eng. forms were a. OF. ypotame (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. med.L. ypotamus, corruption of hippopotamus. The mod.Fr. is hippopotame.]
A pachydermatous quadruped, the African river-horse, Hippopotamus amphibius, a very large beast with a thick heavy hairless body, large muzzle and tusks, and short legs, inhabiting the African rivers, lakes, and estuaries.
| α 13.. K. Alis. 5166 Ypotamos comen flyngynge..Grete bestes and griselich. Ibid. 5184 Ypotame a wonder beest is More than an olifaunt, I wis. Ibid. 6554 He sleth ypotanos, and kokadrill. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 157 Dredful dragonus..Addrus and ypotamus, and oþure ille wormus. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxvi. (1495) 460 Some fysshe seke theyr meete oonly in water and some by nyghte vpon the londe, as Ypotanus, the water horse. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxvi. 268 In that Contree ben many Ipotaynes [Roxb. ypotams]. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 26 The hide of the riuer Horse, named Hippotamon. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 65 b, The water Horsse of the Sea is called an Hyppotame. 1658 W. Sanderson Graphice 22 Monsters, Chimeraes, Hippotames, and others such, which Heraulds undertake to bestow upon Gentlemens Buryings. |
| β 1563 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. ii. 28 b (Stanf.) A skin..of a Hippopotame. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa i. 39 The Hippopotamus or water-horse is somewhat tawnie. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 91 (Stanf.) The river Bambotus full of Crocodiles and Hippopotames. 1605 Daniel Philotas in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 274 Me thought a mighty hippopotamus, From Nilus floting, thrusts into the maine. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Hempseed Wks. iii. 63/1 The Ibis, Crocodile, a Cat, a Dog, The Hippopotamy, beetles, or a frog. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. IV. x. 292 The hippopotamos is an animal as large, and not less formidable than the Rhinoceros. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 221 The tusks of hippopotamuses often appear on the surface. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi iii. 81 A considerable body of bitter water containing leeches..crocodiles and hippopotami. |
| attrib. 1875 W. Maskell Ivories 14 The handle of a mirror in hippopotamus ivory. 1897 Daily News 6 Dec. 3/3 A hundred lashes with the hippopotamus hide whip. |