A Dictionary of Non-Scientific Names of Freshwater Crayfishes (Astacoidea and Parastacoidea), Including Other Words and Phrases Incorporating Crayfish Names
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£\ A Dictionary of Non-Scientific Names of Freshwater Crayfishes (Astacoidea and Parastacoidea), Including Other Words and Phrases Incorporating Crayfish Names V5 C.W. HART, JR. SWF- SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY • NUMBER 38 SERIES PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Emphasis upon publication as a means of "diffusing knowledge" was expressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian. In his formal plan for the institution, Joseph Henry outlined a program that included the following statement: "It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge." This theme of basic research has been adhered to through the years by thousands of titles issued in series publications under the Smithsonian imprint, commencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with the following active series: Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Smithsonian Contributions to Botany Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology Smithsonian Folklife Studies Smithsonian Studies in Air and Space Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology In these series, the Institution publishes small papers and full-scale monographs that report the research and collections of its various museums and bureaux or of professional colleagues in the world of science and scholarship. The publications are distributed by mailing lists to libraries, universities, and similar institutions throughout the world. Papers or monographs submitted for series publication are received by the Smithsonian Institution Press, subject to its own review for format and style, only through departments of the various Smithsonian museums or bureaux, where the manuscripts are given substantive review. Press requirements for manuscript and art preparation are outlined on the inside back cover. Robert McC. Adams Secretary Smithsonian Institution SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY • NUMBER 38 A Dictionary of Non-Scientific Names of Freshwater Crayfishes (Astacoidea and Parastacoidea), Including Other Words and Phrases Incorporating Crayfish Names C.W. Hart, Jr. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS Washington, D.C. 1994 ABSTRACT Hart, C.W., Jr. A Dictionary of Non-Scientific Names of Freshwater Crayfishes (Astacoidea and Parastacoidea), Including Other Words and Phrases Incorporating Crayfish Names. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, number 38, 127 pages, 6 figures, 1994.—A dictionary encompassing 1474 non-scientific names (vernacular, common, and fabricated) or freshwater crayfishes, including place-names and slang/argot expressions employing the word "crayfish" or its synonyms. Citations of most source materials are included, as well as examples of uses in literature over time. A Language Index of approximately 100 languages and/or dialects gives acess to sources and other data in the word list. A Species Index lists the non-scientific names usually associated with discrete crayfish species. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. SERIES COVER DESIGN: Natives Fishing (or "Treading") for Crayfish. "The method adopted by the Aborigines in South Australia when fishing for freshwater crayfish is as follows: The fisher puts between his teeth an ordinary rush bag, to hold the crayfish, which he first dislodges with his toes and then catches them with his hands, bagging them rapidly." After Worsnop, 1897:96 and plate 48. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hart, C.W., Jr. A dictionary of non-scientific names of freshwater crayfishes (Astacoidea and Parastacoidea), including other words and phrases incorporating crayfish names, p. cm.—(Smithsonian contributions to Anthropology ; no. 38) Includes bibliographical references (p. 85) and indexes. 1. Crayfish—Nomenclature (Popular) 2. Freshwater invertebrates—Nomenclature (Popular) I. Title II. Title: Freshwater crayfishes III. Series. GNl.S54no. 38 [QL444.M33] 595.3 '841—dc20 93-48884 CIP ® The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48—1984. Contents Page Introduction 1 What Is a Non-Scientific Name? 2 What Are Crayfishes? 3 Where Do Crayfishes Live? 4 The Australian Aboriginal Names 4 The American Indian Names 6 Organization 6 Mistaken Identities 7 Acknowledgments 7 Word List 9 Sign Language 83 References 85 Language Index 98 Species Index 118 Illustrations Figure 1. Representative Australian, European, and North American crayfishes . 2 Figure 2. Crayfish parts labeled for differentiation from other crustaceans 3 Figure 3. Natural distribution of crayfishes (as opposed to introductions) 5 Figure 4. A representative freshwater crab 8 Figure 5. Representative freshwater shrimps 83 Figure 6. Representative North American and Chinese crayfishes 84 The stylized crayfish ornament used on pages 82, 97, 117, and 127 is from Peddie, 1930:79. in A Dictionary of Non-Scientific Names of Freshwater Crayfishes (Astacoidea and Parastacoidea), Including Other Words and Phrases Incorporating Crayfish Names C.W. Hart, Jr. His ineffable effable Efanineffable Deep and inscrutable singular Name. T.S. Eliot Introduction I soon realized that I would never get out of that swamp as long as I continued with the project, so I Douglas Adams, in The More Than Complete Hitch decided to proceed and to avoid at least some trouble hiker's Guide, briefly discussed Macbeth's attitude by defining myself as a naive lexicographer, sensu Sam toward murdering people—"the initial doubts, followed uel Johnson—i.e., "... a harmless drudge...." That, I by cautious enthusiasm and then greater and greater felt, might lend some frail shelter from my fellow alarm at the sheer scale of the undertaking and still no swamp dwellers. end in sight." The scientific identities (in the Western sense), the I had a similar progression of feelings about this non-scientific names, and the distributions of freshwater dictionary, which I innocently started because I have crustaceans are important because crayfishes, shrimps, long been troubled by the odd assortment of animals crabs, and other crustaceans sometimes inhabit the same generally referred to as "crayfish." There was an watercourses and are often indiscriminately called initial feeling of "who cares," followed by a bit of "crayfish," "crawfish," or, indeed, hundreds of other enthusiasm when I discovered others had also compiled vernacular names by the uninitiated. References to lists of crayfish common names (somebody cares), fol "crayfish" where no crayfishes live, to crabs where lowed by an alarm phase when I realized how many there are no crabs, and to shrimps where only cray names there are and the impossibility of my finding fishes live not only give rise to questions about the them all. validity of observations, but to erroneous conclusions. After the alarm phase, there was panic—when I This, then, is largely a list of the non-scientific realized that I was treading on some very unfamiliar names used locally, worldwide, infrequently, or over a ground. Indeed, I, as a zoologist, was deep in a swamp long period of time to refer to the freshwater crayfishes inhabited by alien beings such as ethnobiologists, belonging to the superfamilies Astacoidea and the linguists, and no doubt other things. Parastacoidea. Where possible, I have associated those names with the appropriate scientific names, and also C.W. Hart, Jr., Department of Invertebrate Zoology, pointed out where confusion is possible, rampant, or National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian even intractable. But a dream is usually finer than Institution, Washington, D. C. 20560 *- reality, and so it is with this. I set out simply to find SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY the vernacular equivalents for "crayfish" in as many languages as possible, and while I believe I have found most, I would be foolish to bet on it. I have taken what might be considered the narrow view—limiting this to those freshwater crustaceans belonging to the Astacoidea and the Parastacoidea—and hope to encourage the use of other terms for reference to marine and other freshwater species. In addition, as a lagniappe, crayfish vernacular names that are used as verbs are included, as well as argot and slang expressions, and place names associated with crayfishes. As a zoologist, I bring with me some traditions and emotional baggage that a linguist would probably scorn. But my aims are not linguistic in any formal sense, and follow more the desire for completeness and synonymic integrity that underlie zoological practices. Almost all of the names have appeared in print (at the moment I can think of only four that I have attribut ed to individuals), and I have attempted to provide full citations and page data for each name. Where names were listed in publications citing other publications, I have verifed as many as possible by going to the original sources. Occasionally I have been unsuccessful in this and have provided the information that was available. I do not doubt that some will say that "ecrevisse" is the same word as "ecrevisse"; that "yaabitch" and "yabbie" and "yabby" and "yappi" are but variations on a theme, and that the delightful and wildly variable spelling associated