gnu

[Probably from Dutch gnoe, from Xhosa i-ngu, white-tailed gnu, from San !nu, black wildebeest.]

(click to enlarge)
White-bearded wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus albojubatus). (credit: Leonard Lee Rue III)

Either of two species of African antelope (genus Connochaetes). The gnu stands higher at the shoulder than at the rump, reaching a shoulder height of 3 – 4 ft (1 – 1.3 m). The southern African form, the white-tailed gnu, or black wildebeest, is dark brown with long black tufts on the snout, chin, throat, and chest, and a black mane and flowing white tail. Today it exists only in national parks and preserves. The brindled gnu, or blue wildebeest, is reasonably abundant over much of central and South Africa. It is silvery gray with dark vertical bands on the sides and has a black mane, tail, and face, whitish cheeks, and a tuft of dark hair on chin and throat. Both sexes of both species have horns. Gnu live in often large, constantly moving herds and graze on the grasses and scrub of open plains.

For more information on gnu, visit Britannica.com.

(GNU's Not Unix) A Unix-like operating system developed by the free software movement starting in 1984. In 1992, the almost-complete GNU system was combined with the Linux kernel, producing the GNU/Linux system. The GNU Project developed many of the core programs in GNU, but also included available free software such as the X Window System and TeX. See GNU Project, GNU/Linux, Free Software Foundation, free software and Linux.

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What's gnu? Nothing but one of the most famous of African animals and an indispensable three-letter word for cross-word puzzles and Scrabble. The gnu is an antelope much bigger than its name, weighing four or five hundred pounds when grown. It looks something like an ox, with wide, smooth horns that curve down, then out, then up. It eats grass and is eaten by hyenas and lions. The black gnu is scarce and is found only in South Africa, but the blue gnu is abundant and ranges from South Africa to Kenya.

So we know where it's from. What about its name? That's something of a puzzle. We can easily trace it back to the German traveler Georg Forster, whose book A Voyage Around the World, published in English in 1777, is the first English mention of the name. "There is another species of wild ox," he wrote, "called by the natives gnoo." The only problem is which natives he meant; several different native languages have the word. One possibility is Nama, a Khoisan language formerly called Hottentot, spoken by 90,000 people in Namibia. Equally likely, and with considerably more speakers nowadays, is Xhosa, a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family spoken by nearly seven million residents of South Africa. Another kind of large antelope named in Foster's 1777 book, the kudu, seems also to derive its name from Xhosa.

Of course, the gnu is also known as a wildebeest (1824), a name that obviously means "wild beast" and comes from Afrikaans, a descendant of Dutch and a close relative of English. But that's not gnu, and it won't displace gnu in word games.

A large, ungainly antelope with a head like a buffalo. Called also wildebeeste or Gorgon taurinus, Connochaetes spp.

n.

An animal of South Africa, which in its domesticated state resembles a horse, a buffalo and a stag. In its wild condition it is something like a thunderbolt, an earthquake and a cyclone.

    A hunter from Kew caught a distant view
        Of a peacefully meditative gnu,
    And he said:  "I'll pursue, and my hands imbrue
        In its blood at a closer interview."
    But that beast did ensue and the hunter it threw
        O'er the top of a palm that adjacent grew;
    And he said as he flew:  "It is well I withdrew
        Ere, losing my temper, I wickedly slew
        That really meritorious gnu."
                                                           Jarn Leffer

Tutor's tip: They "knew" (to have knowledge) all about the "new" (not previously discovered) found "gnu" (an African antelope).

Dansk (Danish)
n. - gnu

Nederlands (Dutch)
gnoe

Français (French)
n. - gnou

Deutsch (German)
n. - Gnu

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ζωολ.) κοννοχαίτης, γκνου

Italiano (Italian)
gnu

Português (Portuguese)
n. - gnu (m) (Zool.)

Русский (Russian)
антилопа гну

Español (Spanish)
n. - gnu, ñu

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - gnu (zool.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
牛羚, 角马

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 牛羚, 角馬

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (동물의 일종) 소영양

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ヌー

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) النو : حيوان ذو رأس, كبير وذيل طويل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אנטילופה דרום-אפריקאית, גנו‬

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