TDBK
·The most fascinating fact of the day (so far): in most European languages, the word for "bear" is descended from the same ancient word, leading to "Ursa" (Latin, like "Ursa Major"), "Arktos" (Greek, leading to "arctic"), "Ursine" (formal English), "ours" (French), etc.
However, in German (bär), English (bear), Dutch (beer), Swedish (bjorn), and other northern European languages, it's derived from the word for brown, while in Slavic languages, it's derived from the word for "honey-eater", and in Baltic languages, from "shaggy". It seems that in the northern areas where people actually had contact with bears, there was a superstition around not voicing the actual name of bears, so they were referred to by circumlocution ("the brown one", "the shaggy one", "the honey-eater") until those words took over as the actual names for bears.
Cite: https://charlierussellbears.com/LinguisticArchaeology.html
However, in German (bär), English (bear), Dutch (beer), Swedish (bjorn), and other northern European languages, it's derived from the word for brown, while in Slavic languages, it's derived from the word for "honey-eater", and in Baltic languages, from "shaggy". It seems that in the northern areas where people actually had contact with bears, there was a superstition around not voicing the actual name of bears, so they were referred to by circumlocution ("the brown one", "the shaggy one", "the honey-eater") until those words took over as the actual names for bears.
Cite: https://charlierussellbears.com/LinguisticArchaeology.html