Grampuses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of marine mammal, related to dolphins, known for its robust body and distinctive vocalizations
2. A cetacean species belonging to the family Delphinidae, noted for its intelligence and social behavior
3. An aquatic mammal appearing in temperate oceans, often recognized by its rounded head and sociable nature

Etymology: "Grampuses" is the plural of "grampus," and the animal's name is a surprisingly fat one. It comes from a Latin compound, "crassus" meaning "fat" joined to "piscis" meaning "fish," which passed into Medieval Latin as "craspicis," literally "fat fish." The name then moved through Old French as "graspois" and "craspois," a term that referred to a whale, to salted whale meat, to blubber, and even to seals, before it reached Middle English as forms like "grampas" and "grapas." The original sense of the name was tied to the body of the animal rather than to its appearance or temperament. Blubber and fatty meat were valuable commodities, so the word centred on the creature's rich, greasy substance. The modern sense, a dolphin-like sea mammal with a blunt head and a social habit, is a narrower one that grew out of that older broad category of large sea creatures.