Alligator

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tə/

Definitions

1. A sizable reptilian predator primarily inhabiting freshwater areas, distinguished by its strong jaws and elusive nature in muddy environments
2. This large carnivore thrives in wetlands and rivers, famous for its formidable bite and stealthy swimming abilities
3. A large reptile found in aquatic habitats, recognized for its powerful jaws and stealth while hunting in murky waters

Etymology: One of the largest reptiles in North America is named, quite literally, "the lizard," and the "the" is still stuck to the front of it. When Spanish explorers met the great armored reptiles of the American rivers, they did not invent a new name. They called them "el lagarto," the lizard, as if these were simply an oversized version of the small lizards they knew at home. English sailors and traders picked the phrase up from Spanish speakers in the sixteenth century, and they heard it as a single word. The article "el," which itself goes back to Latin "ille," meaning "that," melted into the noun, the way a learner might hear one word in a phrase spoken quickly. The English form is first recorded in the 1560s, and for decades nobody agreed on how to spell it. Writers produced "aligarto," "alagarto," "alegarto," "alligarta" and "alligater," and some kept the plain Spanish "lagarto." A 1594 account records "alagartoes" in the Guayaquil River in what is now Ecuador. These were crocodiles rather than the North American animal. By the 1620s the spelling had settled as "alligator," with a final "-r" that the Spanish never had. The modern spelling was possibly influenced by a Latin word English writers already knew: "alligator," meaning "one who binds," from "alligare," to tie to. It has nothing to do with reptiles, but it looked respectable. If that is what happened, a reptile's name ended up dressed as a Latin job title, and the spelling stuck. Shakespeare often gets the credit for the word, and it is easy to see why. In "Romeo and Juliet," written in the mid-1590s, Romeo recalls the needy shop of a poor apothecary where "a tortoise hung, / An alligator stuff'd, and other skins / Of ill-shaped fishes." It is a memorable image. But the word was already in English use some thirty years before the play, carried home in travelers' reports. Shakespeare used it, but he did not coin it. The Spanish "lagarto" comes from Latin "lacertus" or "lacerta," lizard. The same Latin word traveled a different road, through Old French, and became the English "lizard." So English has two descendants of a single Latin word. One kept its humble meaning and stayed small. The other fused with a Spanish article, picked up an ending that looked Latin, and attached itself to an animal that can grow more than four meters long. Even that name proved too long for everyday speech. By 1844 Americans had cut it down to "gator." That clipping lopped off what was left of the old Spanish "the," and a piece of the lizard along with it.

Synonyms: crocodile, reptile, gator