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Where does the word "kulan" come from? It comes from Kazakh qulan, passing through Russian before entering English (1790s).
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Where does the word "kulan" come from? It comes from Kazakh qulan, passing through Russian before entering English (1790s).
Kulan’s story begins in Kazakh: qulan meant “wild ass.” The steppe peoples' name for the fast wild ass. By 1770s, the word had taken hold in Russian as kulan. Peter Simon Pallas described the animal for the Russian Academy of Sciences, naming it Equus hemionus in 1775. It reached English by 1790s as kulan. English zoologists took the name from Pallas's reports. Today, kulan means the wild ass of the Central Asian steppes.
- Stage 1 · Kazakh · medieval qulan "wild ass", the steppe peoples' name for the fast wild ass.
- Stage 2 · Russian · 1770s kulan "wild ass", Peter Simon Pallas described the animal for the Russian Academy of Sciences, naming it Equus hemionus in 1775.
- Stage 3 · English · 1790s kulan "Asian wild ass", English zoologists took the name from Pallas's reports.