| 释义 |
‖ aurochs|ˈaʊrɒks, ˈɔːrɒks|
[a. Ger. aurochs, obs. form of auerochse:—MHG. ûr-ochse, OHG. ûr-ohso, f. ûr = OE. úr, ON. úrr, OTeut. *ûrus, the Urus, + G. ochs, MHG. ochse, OHG. ohso, ox. The L. ūrus and Gr. οὖρος were adopted from the OTeut. word, of which the derivation is uncertain.]
Historically and properly, the name of an extinct species of Wild Ox (Bos Urus Owen, B. primigenius Boj.), described by Cæsar as Urus, which formerly inhabited Europe, including the British Isles, and survived until comparatively recent times in Prussia, Poland, and Lithuania. Since this became extinct, the name has often been erroneously applied to another species, the European Bison (Bos Bison Gesn., B. bonasus Linn.), still extant in the forests of Lithuania, in which sense it is used by some English naturalists.
In early mod.G. aurox, aurochs, was still applied to the Urus, and only since its disappearance (in 17th c.) has been popularly misapplied to the Bison, in which sense it was unfortunately adopted by some naturalists, before the facts were known. More recent authors have sought to remedy the mistake by introducing the form Urox (MHG. ûr-ochse) for the Urus, while retaining Aurochs for the Bison; but as Urox and Aurochs are only the earlier and later form of the same name, this is historically indefensible, and the only accurate nomenclature is to distinguish the two animals as Urus (or Urox), and Bison (improperly called Aurochs). See Schade Altdeutsch. Wb. s.v. Wisunt; Boyd Dawkins, Fossil Brit. Oxen, in Q. Jrnl. Geol.Soc. XXII. i. 393.
1766Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) I. i. i. ii. ii. 19 The Urus of the Hercynian forest described by Cæsar..called by the modern Germans, Aurochs, i.e. Bos sylvestris. 1797Barr Buffon's Nat. Hist. VIII. 23 The urus, or aurochs. 1835Penny Cycl. IV. 463/2 The aurochs of the present day is nothing more than the Bison or Bonasus of the antients. 1869J. Gray Guide Brit. Mus. 3 The Lithuanian Bison or Aurochs..is now nearly extinct. 1882C. Elton Orig. Eng. Hist. 59 A confused account of two distinct animals, the Aurochs or Zubr of Lithuania, and the extinct Urus which Charlemagne is said to have hunted. [Pol. żubr = bison.] |