chuckwalla
Aug. 7th, 2025 08:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordchuckwalla (CHUHK-wah-luh) - n., any of five iguanid lizards (genus Sauromalis) of arid southwestern US and Mexico.
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Thanks, WikiMedia!
The pic being the common chuckwalla (S. ater), the kind we see around here. They can get a bit bigger, but not as big as some iguanas. This is, I believe, a repeat word, but it fits the theme -- and besides, the name is fun to say aloud. We got the name in 1893 from American Spanish chacahuala, from either Cahuilla cháxwal (spoken in southern California) or Shoshoni tcaxxwal (spoken throughout the Great Basin), both Uto-Aztecan languages. [Sidebar: the Comanche left the Great Basin for the southern Great Plains soon after acquiring horses in 1705, and while their language is no longer mutually intelligible with Shoshoni, both peoples still consider each other relatives.]
---L.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
The pic being the common chuckwalla (S. ater), the kind we see around here. They can get a bit bigger, but not as big as some iguanas. This is, I believe, a repeat word, but it fits the theme -- and besides, the name is fun to say aloud. We got the name in 1893 from American Spanish chacahuala, from either Cahuilla cháxwal (spoken in southern California) or Shoshoni tcaxxwal (spoken throughout the Great Basin), both Uto-Aztecan languages. [Sidebar: the Comanche left the Great Basin for the southern Great Plains soon after acquiring horses in 1705, and while their language is no longer mutually intelligible with Shoshoni, both peoples still consider each other relatives.]
---L.
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no subject
Date: 2025-08-10 02:58 pm (UTC)So much fun to say!
It's got sounds which work well as an oath. Spittering chuckwalla, what terrible news!
no subject
Date: 2025-08-10 03:22 pm (UTC)lol 😆