köken: From Middle High German merswīn, from Old High German meriswīn, from Proto-West Germanic *mariswīn, from Proto-Germanic *mariswīną; equivalent to Meer + Schwein. Compare archaic English mereswine.
synonym of porquinho-da-índia · guinea pig (volunteer for an experiment)
çekim: çoğul cobaias
köken: From Old Tupi çobaîa (foreign), from a clipping of Old Tupi saûîasobaîa (guinea pig, literally “foreign tree rat”). The change of ⟨ç⟩ (pronounced /s/) to ⟨c⟩ (pronounced /k/) is irregular and likely stems from a misreading or misprint. Compare Spanish cobaya. The figurative sense is likely a semantic loan from English guinea pig.
Borrowed from Japanese モルモット (morumotto), from Dutch marmot, so-called due to Dutch traders mistakenly identifying guinea pigs as marmots when they first brought them to Japan. Doublet of 마멋 (mameot, “marmot”) and 마르모트 (mareumoteu, “marmot”).