#poor bdeogale

Herpestidae is interesting, because if you study herpestids, you’re a mammalogist, and if you’re a herpetologist, you study reptiles and amphibians. Both “herpestidae” and “herpetology” derive from the Greek “herpein” (“to creep”). Herpetology went the “herpein” to “herpeton” (”reptile”) route, while Herpestidae came from “herpein” to “herpestes” (”creeping”) to “herpestes” (”animal that walks on four legs”). To meet the quality standards of my etymology talks, “Herpestes” will, from here on out, be translated to “creeper”, to keep things economical and also because. This will happen exactly once.

You’ll also notice that there are a lot of “weasel” meanings happening in this group, which really isn’t surprising when you consider that Western civilization has been the driving force behind binomial nomenclature, and that they’re mainly familiar with caniforms as a consequence of their distribution. Thus, there seems to be a trend that creatures known by Western antiquity (some of the mongooses) don’t have weasel-names, but the newer ones discovered in comparatively recent times get a lot of “gale” in their names.

HERPESTIDAE

Atilax - Marsh Mongoose

I DON’T KNOW SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME

Bdeogale - Bushy-Tailed Mongoose, Etc.

“Fart Weasel”, Gr. “bdeo-” - break wind + Gr. “gale, galee” - weasel

Galerella - Slender Mongooses

“Little Weasel”, Gr. “gale, galee” - weasel + Lat. “-ella” - diminutive suffix

Herpestes - African & Asian Mongooses

“Creepers”, Gr. “herpestes” - animal that walks on four legs, from Gr. “herpestes” - creeping, from Gr. “herpein”, to creep

Ichneumia -- White-Tailed Mongoose

“Tracker”, Gr. “ikhneumon” - tracker, from “ikhnos” - “track, footstep”

Rhynchogale -- Meller’s Mongoose

“Snout Weasel", Gr. “rhynchus” - snout, beak + Gr. “gale, galee” - weasel

Crossarchus - Kusimanses

“Fringed Anus”, Gr.  "crossotos” - fringed + “archos” - anus

Cynictis - Yellow Mongoose

“Dog Weasel”,  Gr. “kuon” - dog + Lat. “ictis” - weasel

Dologale - Pousargues’s Mongoose

“Fraud Weasel” - Gr. “dolos” - deceit, fraud, cunning + Gr. “gale, galee” - weasel

Helogale - Dwarf Mongooses

“Marsh Weasel” - Gr. “helos” - marsh, meadow + Gr. “gale, galee” - weasel

Liberiictis - Liberian Mongoose

“Liberian Weasel”, American “Liberia” - the country of Liberia +   Lat. “ictis” - weasel

Mungos - Gambian & Banded Mongooses

“Mongoose”,  Marathi "mungūs" - mongoose, from Telugu “mungisa” or Kannada “mungisi” - mongoose

Paracynictis - Selous’ Mongoose

“Like a Dog Weasel”, Gr. “para” -  beside, near, issuing from, against, contrary to + Gr. “kuon” - dog + Lat. “ictis” - weasel

Suricata - Meerkat

“Suricate”, Fr. “suricate” - suricate”, from unkonown African loanword?*

This ended up being funnier than I expected. Ohoho, etymology! Also, what on EARTH is “Atilax”?! If you know, please tell me! It has the “-ax” suffix making it masculine, but a masculine WHAT?! I ran into a poorly-translated discussion of the word origin of “Atlantis” that vehemently asserted that “atil-” and “ateil-” are nowhere in the Greek language, and I just don’t know!