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Macaque

4 stages from Kikongo to English.

Today it means an Old World monkey of the genus Macaca, such as the rhesus monkey

Where does the word "macaque" come from? It comes from Kikongo makaku, passing through Portuguese and French before entering English (1700s).

makaku→macaco→macaque→macaque

Kikongo · 1400s

the usual explanation is a Bantu word from the Kingdom of Kongo, whose contact with Portugal began when Diogo Cão reached the Congo River mouth in the 1480s

Portuguese · 1500s

carried home by ships trading at Mpinda, Kongo's port on the river mouth; in Portuguese it still means any monkey

French · 1600s

borrowed from Portuguese; much later, in 1799, the naturalist Lacépède made Macaca a scientific genus, narrowing it to mainly Asian monkeys

English · 1700s

"Old World monkey of genus Macaca"

from French; the rhesus macaque later lent its name to the Rh blood factor, identified by Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener in 1940

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Read the full story

Macaque’s story begins in Kikongo: makaku meant “monkeys.” The usual explanation is a Bantu word from the Kingdom of Kongo, whose contact with Portugal began when Diogo Cão reached the Congo River mouth in the 1480s. By 1500s, the word had taken hold in Portuguese as macaco. Carried home by ships trading at Mpinda, Kongo's port on the river mouth; in Portuguese it still means any monkey. From there it passed into French as macaque by 1600s. Borrowed from Portuguese; much later, in 1799, the naturalist Lacépède made Macaca a scientific genus, narrowing it to mainly Asian monkeys. It reached English by 1700s as macaque. From French; the rhesus macaque later lent its name to the Rh blood factor, identified by Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener in 1940. Today, macaque means an Old World monkey of the genus Macaca, such as the rhesus monkey.