Spoiler alert: it was a mistake!
Our Brit forebears got in a flap when it came to naming the festive feathered fowl because it didn’t come from Turkey.
The story goes that they named it after the sea merchants from Turkey who imported the bird, incorrectly assuming that the bird originated from their country.
But the bird, which was first brought to the UK in the 16thcentury, was actually native to the Americas.
And what did the Turkish people call the bird – because they would have known its real origin, wouldn’t they? If so, they didn’t let on. In Turkish, the turkey is called hindi from the Turkish word for India, Hindistan!
The uTalk #12LanguagesofChristmas giveaway has arrived!
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for details of different festive traditions and stories from around the globe. We’ll be posting every other day starting on Saturday 1st December and ending on Monday 24th December. The first person to correctly answer our quiz question of the day will win a prize.
Good luck!