CNC-RR014 - AZURE SPRING BUD

Since it is already the season of thanksgiving, we’ve decided to do a post related to the big bird, Turkey.

Alas, we’ve no jewelry pieces with a turkey design (hmmm…would you wear one if there is any??? I wonder…) so we’ve chosen another bunch of flowers, with each little flower representing the heart of each thankful soul out there.

Hope you all will like it.

Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. The history of Turkey begins with the migration of Oghuz Turks into Anatolia in the context of the larger Turkic expansion, forming the Seljuq Empire in the 11th century AD.

The country’s official language is Turkish, which is spoken by approximately 85% of the population as mother tongue. The most numerous ethnic group are Turks, who constitute between 70% and 75% of the population according to the World Factbook. 

The name of Turkey, literally meaning “owner”, “land of” or “related to” and a Turk can mean either “a citizen of the modern state of Turkey” or more broadly, “an individual of the Turkic-speaking people.”

When Europeans first encountered this big bird in America, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guinea fowl which were also known as turkey fowl (or turkey hen and turkey cock) because they were imported to Central Europe through Turkey.

The name turkey fowl, shortened to just the name of the country, stuck as the name of the North American bird. However some people around the world don’t call them Turkeys. Here are some examples:

  • Across Arabia, they call it “diiq Hindi,” or the “Indian rooster.”
  • In Russia, it’s “Indjushka,” bird of India.
  • In Poland, “Inyczka”— again “bird from India.”

Last but not least, do the people in Turkey call it Turkey as well since it is named after their country?

The answer is…no.

Well, they call it “Hindi“ — again, short for India.

Although this large bird is named after the country Turkey, many turkeys have already been described from fossils.

The well-documented California Turkey Meleagris californica, became extinct recently enough to have been hunted by early human settlers and it is believed its demise was due to the combined pressures of climate change at the end of the last glacial period and hunting.

So, which Turkey is older?

The country or the big bird?

Read more at: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_(bird)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97541602

In Singapore, we call it ‘Turkey” in English but in Mandarin, it will be “huo ji” (火鸡), literally meaning ‘Fire Chicken’.

Don’t ask me why, I guess maybe it is because of its outlook??

Hope you all enjoy this post.

Till then, have a great weekend ahead!!

Cheers & TTFN~ 😀