Diphologolo le Dibatana [Animals]

Names of different animals in Setswana, English, and their taxonomical (scientific) designations.
[ENG] The Setswana word “diphologolo” [singular: phologolo] is often used as a translation of “animals”, and has so popularly been accepted with this generic meaning that it is sometimes difficult to convince people that strictly speaking, it only covers one half of the animal kingdom: ungulates (hoofed herbivores, or omnivores in the case of pigs).
A more consumate user of Setswana would for instance find it uncultured to refer to a lion or even a hare as a “phologolo”. These are what we call dibatana [singular: sebatana]. The king of the jungle sometimes even enjoys the distinction of being called “sebata” [without the diminutive suffix ‘na’].
One other thing: animals that are not indigenous to this region do not have actual Setswana names, and in some cases are assigned names of other local animals that they most closely resemble or can be associated with. Sometimes an adjective is included in the name to differentiate it from the “original”. Examples of this are wolf, which is given the Setswana name for hyaena, phiri, and tiger and jaguar, which are given the name for leopard, nkwe (albeit, tiger is often referred to as nkwe ya Intia [leopard of India]).
The one unfortunate animal who had his name totally stolen from him, and had to make do with an “artificial name” is ironically, the national animal of Botswana: the zebra. Zebra was originally called “pitse”, but with the introduction of the horse, which is what we refer to now as pitse, zebra became known as wild/feral horse [pitse ya naga] or striped horse [pitse e tilodi].
This section provides pictures of animals, together with their English and Setswana names for easy identification. These are subdivided into the following categories:
Domestic Animals
Felines (Cats)
Canines (Dogs)
Bovids
Other Mammals
Aves (Birds)
Reptiles and Aquatics
Arthropods (Insects, arachnids, etc)
[TSN] Lefoko “diphologolo” le atisitse go dirisiwa e le thanolo ya “animals”. Mme le fa ntswa se se tlwaelesegile thata, bokao ja lone bo a tlhaela ka bo raya bontlha bongwe ja ditshedi tse – tse di tlhako.
Mankge wa puo ya Setswana, gantsi o a sitega a utlwa motho a bitsa tau, le fa e le mmutla tota, a re ke phologolo. Lefoko le le siametseng ditshidi tse di nang le maroo ke dibatana. Tshetlha ya dikgwa e bile yone e kgona le go bidiwa sebata [ntleng le mogatlana wa ngotlo, ‘na’].
Kgang e nngwe ke go re diphologolo tse di sa tlholegeng mo mafelong a Batswana ga di na maina a Setswana. dingwe tsa tsone di abetswe maina a diphologolo tse dingwe tse di ka tshwantshanngwang le tsone. Fa gongwe go tsenngwa tlhaodi mo leineng le, go le farologanya le la ntlha. Dikai di akaretsa lefoko phiri [hyaena] le le dirisiwang gape go raya wolf. Le lengwe ke nkwe [leopard], le le kgonang go raya gape tiger kgotsa jaguar (le fa ntswa tiger e atisitse go bidiwa nkwe ya Intia).
Phologole e e boneng go se go ntle, ka go utswelwa leina ke pitse e tilodi/pitse ya naga [zebra]. Pele, ke yone e e neng e bidiwa “pitse”, mme e ne ya re morago ga go goroga ga dipitse [horses], ga bo go tshwnela go re leina la zebra le fetolwe.
Karolwana e e supa ditshwantsho tsa diphologolo le dibatana ka go farologana, di bapisitswe le maina a tsone a Sekgowa le a Setswana. Di kgaogantswe ka dithlhophana tse di latelang:
Diphologolo tsa Selegae
Sika loo Katse
Siko loo Ntša
Sika loo Kgomo le Podi
Diamusi tse Dingwe
Dinonyane
Sika loo Noga le Mmantseane, le Ditshedi tsa Metsi
Diphologotswana
picture source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/411797959656562825/