"Hippopotamus" is another one. It derives from the Greek words hippos (horse) and potamos (river) and this concept of river horse is present in many different languages:
German: Flusspferd (lit. river horse)
Dutch: Rivierpaard (lit. river horse)
Finnish: Virtahepo (lit. stream horse)
Danish: Flodhest (lit. flood horse)
Chinese: 河马 (lit. river horse)
Arabic: فرس النهر (lit. river horse)
French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese use variations of hippopotamus.
Tiny variations exist as well:
Hungarian: Víziló (lit. water horse)
Afrikaans: Seekoei (lit. sea cow)
Actually, the Dutch translation is "Nijlpaard", not "rivierpaard".
But, it uses the Dutch name for the Nile river, "Nijl". So it's lit. "Nilehorse" - which is technically the same as "river horse", just more geographically specific.
Aye! Flodhäst in Swedish, and カバ (河馬, 河 river, 馬 horse) in Japanese.
"Hippopotamus" is another one. It derives from the Greek words hippos (horse) and potamos (river) and this concept of river horse is present in many different languages:
Tiny variations exist as well:
Actually, the Dutch translation is "Nijlpaard", not "rivierpaard".
But, it uses the Dutch name for the Nile river, "Nijl". So it's lit. "Nilehorse" - which is technically the same as "river horse", just more geographically specific.
Aye! Flodhäst in Swedish, and カバ (河馬, 河 river, 馬 horse) in Japanese.