any lizard · the Tsushima ground skink, Scincella vandenburghi
köken: First attested in the Hunmong jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527, as Middle Korean 도마〮ᄇᆡ〮얌〮 (Yale: twòmápóyyám). Compound of 도마 (doma) + 뱀 (baem, “snake”). The first part may be related to 도막 (domak), 도막도막 (domakdomak).
köken: Unclear. Older șopîrlă, influenced by șopîrcăi (“to joke, be goofy”) and năpârcă (“adder”), possibly from or cognate to Tosk Albanian shapinj (“lizards”, standard Albanian zhapinj), plural of shapi (standard zhapi) as a substratum word. Other less likely theories include a derivation of Ancient Greek σήψ (sḗps) or a Latin *sepinula.
Likely a compound of 戸 (to, “door”) + 陰 (kage, “shadow”), possibly from the notion that the lizards live in the shade of doors, or that they live in shadow, especially when indoors, or are thought to be crawling on doors and their dark coloring can be mistaken for their shadow. Alternatively, perhaps from 疾隠 (toku kakure, “quickly hiding”) or 敏駆 (tokake, “nimble runner”). Orthographic borrowing…