Etymology: Probably < Welsh pen gwyn white head ( < pen head, headland (see pen n.¹) + gwyn white: see gwyniad n.). Compare Dutch pinguin (1595 as fenguin ; probably < English), German Pinguin (1599 as pagnies , 1606 as pencuius , both plural; < English or Dutch), Swedish pingvin (1685; perhaps < German), French pingouin (1598 in Middle French as pinguyn ; < Dutch). Welsh pengwin Great Auk (1677 in a translation of quot. 1584), penguin (1872) is probably < English (compare also Welsh regional (northern) †pengwin bach little auk, razorbill (19th cent. in an isolated attestation)).It appears that the name was first given to the Great Auk of the seas of Newfoundland (although this sense is first attested marginally later than sense 1). This is the main sense in French, but rare or absent in languages other than English and French. French pingouin is normally applied to birds of the auk family of the northern hemisphere (e.g. in petit pingouin razorbill; compare sense 2). However, the earliest attestations appear in translations from Dutch and refer to penguins in the southern hemisphere. These birds are now usually referred to in French as manchot (1760 as noun in this sense: see mank adj.). The penguin resembles the Great Auk closely both in appearance and in its habits. Both birds are large, flightless waterfowl with similar black and white coats adapted to life in circumpolar waters. It is therefore possible that the penguin, which was first named thus by British sailors, was mistaken for the Great Auk, or that a term for the most similar known bird was applied (compare Magellan's reported use of ‘geese’: see quot. 1577 at sense 1a). The attribution of the name penguin to ‘the Welsh men’ (compare quot. 1577 at sense 1a), and its explanation as Welsh pen gwyn white head, appears also in Ingram's Narrative, and later in Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels (in the edition of 1634 as a surmise, and in the edition of 1638 as an accepted fact). Since the bird was known in the far north of Europe under a different name (see gare-fowl n.), it is likely that the term penguin originated in North America. However, the Great Auk did not have a white head (though it had large white spots in front of the eyes). Most references to Penguin Island in Newfoundland are due to Hakluyt (compare quot 1578 at sense 2). Also, an account of Hore's Voyage to Cape Breton was taken down by him, some fifty years after the event, from the mouth of Thomas Buts, a survivor of the voyage:1589 in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 518 They came to part of the West Indies about Cape Breton, shaping their course thence Northeastwards, vntill they came to the Island of Penguin,..whereon they went and founde it full of great foules white and gray, as bigge as geese. If one could be sure that the name ‘Penguin Island’ dated back to 1536, this would be the earliest occurrence of the word. Ingram's Narrative, if reliable, would be evidence for the name in 1568–9; but his tale is discredited. The presence of a piece of place-name lore in Hakluyt's book (in a letter from George Peckham) suggests that the name had been in existence for long enough to attract a legend. Since Welsh pen can also refer to a headland, it is possible that the name of the bird derives from a place name. Compare also:1584 H. Llwyd & D. Powel Hist. Cambria 229 But the Iland of Corroeso, the cape of Bryton, the riuer of Gwyndor, and the white rocke of Pengwyn, which be all Brytish or Welsh words, doo manifestlie shew that it was that countrie which Madoc and his people inhabited. Since Breton fishermen were fishing the Grand Banks in the first half of the 16th cent. or earlier, the name (either of the island or of the bird) may also have been coined in Breton, from elements cognate with the Welsh. Objections have been made that mutation should be expected in Welsh, leading to a form penwyn , but this is only true for compounds. Since pen is masculine, the two-word phrase is still pen gwyn . An adjective, Welsh penwyn white-headed, is attested in the 16th cent. in the nickname of the poet Dafydd Benwyn , referring to his white hair. The Great Auk was hunted to extinction for its thick layer of fat. Penguins, too, were noted and valued for their fat, see e.g. quot. 1678 at sense 1a, and the following:1577 F. Fletcher Log of ‘Golden Hind’ 24 Aug. in N. M. Penzer World Encompassed by Sir F. Drake (1971) 128 Being so fatt that they can but goe & their skinns cannot be taken from their bodyes without tearing of the flesh. An alternative derivation of the name < classical Latin pinguis fat (see pinguid adj.) or an early association with this word is therefore possible and may be supported by the relative frequency of forms in pin- in most languages from an early date. Compare German Fettgans fat goose, also penguin (18th cent.). An alternative explanation of the word as an alteration of ‘pin-wing’, referring to the rudimentary wings, is unsupported.

Etymology: < penguin n. (compare sense 1c at that entry).