1776, “dense growth of trees and other tangled vegetation,” such as that of some regions in India, from Hindi jangal “desert, forest, wasteland, uncultivated ground,” from Sanskrit jangala-s “arid, sparsely grown with trees,” a word of unknown origin.
I can’t tell if you meant to say “uninhibitated” or “uninhabited.” I get the impression you meant the latter, which would be in line with the idea of “desert” or “wasteland.”
Either way, the history of the word jungle reveals that its root might have applied to what we’d call today a savanna, which is where lions live. So, the title “King of the Jungle” could have made sense for lions at some point.
Actually the Indian Gir Lion does live in jungle/forest. As for the history of the word, the present meaning (forest) might’ve been used for longer by now (in India) than the old meaning.
And funnily enough, the Hindi word “sher” can mean either lion or tiger, although they do have a specific word for tiger, “bagh”. And we do have the same title/phrase in Hindi which could mean either lion or tiger is the king of the jungle. I personally never thought it was the tiger because when I was a child, the Lion King had already been released.
That’s so interesting! I guess the meme is moot if the question is asked in Hindi, haha.
I get the connection with the Lion King also. Speaking of animation from childhood, I’m now remembering an episode of Rugrats where the phrase “King of the Jungle” became an argument. Except on that show, the argument was over whether the title belonged to Tarzan or to King Kong.
Also, jungles’ original meaning is just “uninhibited.” So vast plains counted, too.
Jungle
Source: Etymonline
I can’t tell if you meant to say “uninhibitated” or “uninhabited.” I get the impression you meant the latter, which would be in line with the idea of “desert” or “wasteland.”
Either way, the history of the word jungle reveals that its root might have applied to what we’d call today a savanna, which is where lions live. So, the title “King of the Jungle” could have made sense for lions at some point.
Actually the Indian Gir Lion does live in jungle/forest. As for the history of the word, the present meaning (forest) might’ve been used for longer by now (in India) than the old meaning.
And funnily enough, the Hindi word “sher” can mean either lion or tiger, although they do have a specific word for tiger, “bagh”. And we do have the same title/phrase in Hindi which could mean either lion or tiger is the king of the jungle. I personally never thought it was the tiger because when I was a child, the Lion King had already been released.
That’s so interesting! I guess the meme is moot if the question is asked in Hindi, haha.
I get the connection with the Lion King also. Speaking of animation from childhood, I’m now remembering an episode of Rugrats where the phrase “King of the Jungle” became an argument. Except on that show, the argument was over whether the title belonged to Tarzan or to King Kong.
Thanks for doing the research! Fun fact!
So Northern Canada is the Jungles?
Antarctica is a desert
So is a decent portion of the Canadian arctic
Many parts of Appalachia are rain forests too
Just learned some about that a few months back! What a trip. I saw videos of places that were more fecund than NW Florida!
The east coast of the USA is actually really interesting as a temperate rainforest in many parts.
The Paw Paw is a crazy tropical tasting / seeming fruit that is endemic to the eastern half of the USA and much of Central America.
It’s making a comeback
Below the tree line maybe.