iron hog, noun phrase
- Origin:
- Translation of South African Dutch ystervark.
obs.
ystervark.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 151The hystrix cristata of Linnaeus, called by the colonists here yzer-varken (or the iron-hog,) is the same animal as the Germans carry about for show in our country by the name of the porcupine.
1835 A. Steedman Wanderings I. 81On returning we fell in with a porcupine, hystrix cristata..: the Dutch call it yzer varke, or the iron hog.
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