• drolex@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_edible_dormouse

    Etymology

    The word dormouse comes from Middle English dormous, of uncertain origin, possibly from a dialectal *dor-, from Old Norse dár ‘benumbed’ and Middle English mous ‘mouse’.

    The word is sometimes conjectured to come from an Anglo-Norman derivative of dormir ‘to sleep’, with the second element mistaken for mouse, but no such Anglo-Norman term is known to have existed.[4]

    The Latin word glis, which is the origin of the scientific name, is from the Proto-Indo-European root *gl̥h₁éys ‘weasel, mouse’, related to Sanskrit गिरि girí ‘mouse’ and Ancient Greek γαλέη galéē ‘weasel’.

    The Wikipedia article slides over the word ‘edible’ like it’s a complete non-problem

    • htrayl@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The common name comes from the Romans, who ate them as a delicacy.

      First paragraph.

      • OlinOfTheHillPeople@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormouse

        The edible dormouse (Glis glis) was considered a delicacy in ancient Rome, either as a savoury appetizer or as a dessert (dipped in honey and poppy seeds). The Romans used a special kind of enclosure, a glirarium, to raise and fatten dormice for the table.[6] It is still considered a delicacy in Slovenia and in several places in Croatia, namely Lika, and the islands of Hvar and Brač.[7][8] Dormouse fat was believed by the Elizabethans to induce sleep since the animal put on fat before hibernating.[9]

        • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          fucking elizabethans, no it can’t possibly be that they put on fat so they can —like— survive not eating; no it’s that the fat makes them sleep

          brains so fucking huge they needed corsets and collars for structural support

  • Victor@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I love the immediate “a-and”. But I read it as a confident “aaand…” which I think is way funnier.

  • Johanno@feddit.org
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    2 months ago

    Only the English call them like that. In German it is the Siebenschläfer. Literally translated the seven sleeper.