Etymology
The species name troglodytes, Greek for "cave-dweller", was coined by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in his book De generis humani varietate nativa liber (" on the natural varieties of the human genus") published in 1776, This book was based on his dissertation presented one year before (it had a date 16 Sep 1775 printed on its title page) to the University of Göttingen for internal use only, thus the dissertation did not meet the conditions for published work in the sense of zoological nomenclature.
The English name chimpanzee came from a Bantu language of Angola.
Read more about this topic: Common Chimpanzee
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)