I’ve always been fascinated with people and the animals they resemble. Perhaps you had a friend in childhood who was dull and bovine, like an ox. Or keen of wit and smart, like a monkey. Maybe even roly-poly and cuddly like a koala or a panda. What about a good dependable friend, who embodied all the best canine attributes? Or maybe you knew someone who was so silly and irrational and cooked up the most asinine schemes. Ok I think you get the point. This led me to catalogue all the animal-like adjectives I could find at an early age.
Here is a partial reproduction of that list, probably useful to no one but me. It’s the word, followed by the source animal and the human connotation:
Asinine - from ass, donkey – stupid
Canine - from dog – no real human equivalent, except for dependability, reliance and so on
Bovine - from cows, bovids – slow, dull-witted, thick
Equine - from horse (Equus) – like dog, no real human equivalent
Vulpine - from fox – crafty
Ranine - from frog – no human equivalent
Leonine - from lion (Leo) – regal, majestic
Ursine - from bear (Ursa) – no human equivalent
Lupine - from wolf (Lupus) – savage
Porcine - from pig – fat, rotund
Feline - from cat (Felis) – stealthy
Vespine - from wasp (Vespid) – no human equivalent
Piscine - from fish (Pisces) – open-mouthed, dull-witted
Viperine - from viper – venomous, deadly
Elephantine - from elephant – mammoth, huge
Zebrine - from zebra – anything striped in black and white like its namesake
Tigrine - from tiger – no human equivalent
Lapine, Leporine – from rabbit (Lapin) – timid, shy
Aquiline - from eagle – well defined, sharp and hooked, like the eagle’s beak
Musteline - from weasel (Mustelid) – sneaky
For the sake of purity, I’ve only included words suffixed with -ine. This is the reason for ignoring simian and avian and so on.
Of course, the words are perfectly acceptable as epithets without the human connotation. That’s all I can remember for now, if anyone remembers any others not on this list, and I’m sure there are tons more, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.
Good list – there’s also psittacine (like a parrot), pavonine (like a peacock), ovine (like a sheep), serpentine (like a snake), pierine (like a butterfly), cervine (like a deer), caprine (like a goat) and – my personal favourite – viverrine (like a mongoose).
Sweet, thanks dude! Those are some good ones, indeed. I can’t believe I missed serpentine and ovine, I knew those. But I didn’t know the others, especially viverrine.
Ursine can be “really hairy”…