killer whaleとは

語源

Calque or mistranslation of Spanish asesina-ballenas (whale killer), referring to their tendency to hunt whales.

名詞

killer whale (複数形 killer whales)

1. A sea mammal related to dolphins and porpoises (Orcinus orca).
   • 1851 Of this whale, little is known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage - a sort of Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip and hangs there like a leech until the mighty brute is worried to death. The killer is never hunted. I have never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception might be taken to the name of this whale, on the grounds of its indistinctness. For we are all killers on land and on sea; Bonaparts and sharks included. — Herman Melville: Moby Dick. This ed. 1961 Arnot publishers. p.127.

使用する際の注意点

Some prefer the term orca, finding the term killer whale loaded.

同意語

• (sea mammal): Orcinus orca, orca

派生語

• false killer whale

参考

• Wikipedia article on the common names of orcas