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asvatthāma (Sanskrit) having the strength of a horse

lekgetla (Setswana, Botswana) the droop of the ears of a tired horse

dzádintsu (Telugu, India) to flap about as a horse does his tail, to reprove by speech

cagailt (Gaelic) a roll of chewed grass in a horse’s mouth

ibiihokcho (Alabama, USA) to pass gas in someone’s face (as a horse will)

Moo

Fourth on our list is free to roam in India, enjoying its sacred status, while elsewhere it offers sustenance of more than one kind:

kárámpasu (Tamil) a cow whose udder is black, held in great esteem by the Hindus

nyakula (Lozi, Niger-Congo) to try to untie itself by kicking (as a cow tied up by its legs)

silehile (Lozi, Niger-Congo) to besmirch with dung the teats of a cow which refuses to be milked, in order to keep its calf away

deothas (Gaelic) the longing or eagerness of a calf for its mother

clardingo (Welsh) to flee in panic from a warble-fly (said of a herd of cows)

gokuradiya (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) the water in a hole made by a cow’s hoof

Drinking twice

We rarely see our fifth and last away from a zoo or safari park, but in the wild this creature certainly lives up to the poet’s description as ‘Nature’s great masterpiece’:

dvi-pa (Sanskrit) an elephant (literally, drinking twice – with his trunk and his mouth)

gagau (Malay) an elephant picking up with its trunk

polak (Hindi) straw tied to the end of a bamboo stick which is used to frighten and restrain a furious elephant

isīkā (Sanskrit) an elephant’s eyeball

tun-mada (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) an elephant in rut, alluding to the three liquids which exude from him in the rutting season, namely from his temples, his eyes and his penis

Flying low

And then there are those others that we admire, but generally only from a distance:

arspag (Gaelic) the largest seagull

tihunyi (Tsonga, South Africa) a crested cuckoo which sings before the rains and reminds people to collect firewood

jimbi (Luvale, Zambia) a bird which does not yet sing

sarad (Manobo, Philippines) to fly low, at about the height of a coconut palm

IDIOMS OF THE WORLD

Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched

Swahili advises us not to curse the crocodile before we’ve crossed the river and there are all kinds of similar warnings from around the world about not being too hasty:

mithl ilh yibi’ samak fi al bahar (Arabic) it’s like selling fish still in the sea

man skal ikke sælge skindet, før bjørnen er skudt (Danish) one should not sell the fur before the bear has been shot

älä nuolaise ennen kuin pöydällä tipahtaa (Finnish) don’t start licking it up before it drops onto the table

guthimba ti kuura (Kikuyu, Kenya) having rain clouds is not the same as having rain

na neroden Petko kapa mu skroile (Macedonian) they sewed a hat to Peter who is not born yet

tsiplyat po oseni schitayut (Russian) one should count chicks in autumn

ne govori gop, poka ne pereskochish (Russian) don’t say hop until you jumped over

ino manga ondjupa ongombe inaayi vala (Ndonga, Namibia) don’t hang the churning calabash before the cow has calved

non dire gatto se non l’hai nel sacco (Italian) never say ‘cat’ if you have not got it in your sack

dereyi görmeden paçalari sivama (Turkish) do not roll up your trouser legs before you see the stream

19.

Climate Change

gode ord skal du hogge i berg, de dårligere i snø (Norwegian)

carve your good words in stone, the bad in snow

Tiwilight

The world goes round, and at innumerable different times, the day begins. Down in the Antipodes, the Tiwi people of northern Australia describe the sequence before the sun finally appears:

arawunga early morning before dawn

tokwampari early morning when birds sing

yartijumurra darkness before daylight

wujakari first light before sunrise

The dawn chorus

The Hungarians have a specific word – hajnalpir – for the first blush of dawn; the Japanese distinguish ariake, dawn when the moon is still showing; while the German word Morgengrauen (literally, morning greying) describes both the horror of the morning and its grey