- published: 31 Oct 2014
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Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, consisting of small or medium-size rodents. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots (including woodchucks), flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and have been introduced to Australia. The earliest known squirrels date from the Eocene and are most closely related to the mountain beaver and to the dormouse among living rodent families.
That word "squirrel", first specified in 1327, comes from the Anglo-Norman esquirel which is from the Old French escurel, the reflex of a Latin word sciurus. This Latin word was borrowed from the Ancient Greek word σκίουρος, skiouros, which means shadow-tailed, referring to the bushy appendage possessed by many of its members.
The native Old English word for the squirrel, ācweorna, survived only into Middle English (as aquerne) before being replaced. The Old English word is of Common Germanic origin, cognates of which are still used in other Germanic languages, including the German Eichhörnchen (diminutive of Eichhorn, which is not as frequently used), the Norwegian ikorn/ekorn, the Dutch eekhoorn, the Swedish ekorre and the Danish egern.
[From the CD of Wise After The Event, also b-side of We're All As We Lie]
Out at night
I saw a squirrel lying in a ditch beneath a great elm tree
Grey and weak
His tiny eyes revealed the secret of this vigil strange and free
Hour after hour he pursued
Weaker and weaker you grew
Squirrel, friend
I see you lying and there's nothing I can do to bring you back
Grey and weak
Your tiny eyes don't understand the strangeness of this pain you feel
All through the night you will lie
Each moment death's hour draws nigh
Silently
Your hooded brothers lay you down to sleep forever into time
Peace, at last
Has come upon you as a Mother's fading whispers to her child
Hour after hour I pursued