Editing Mongoose (section)

==Etymology==
The name is derived from names used in India for ''Herpestes'' species:<ref>{{cite book |author=Valentini, M.B. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Major, J.D. |year=1714 |title=Museum museorum, oder, Vollständige Schau Bühne aller Materialien und Specereyen |volume=2 Appendix IX |location=Franckfurt am Mayn |publisher=Johann David Zunners Sel. Erben, und Johann Adam Jungen |page=24 |chapter=Viverra Indica grysea. Mungos |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008634889/page/n327/mode/2up/}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jerdon, T.C. |year=1874 |title=The mammals of India; a natural history of all the animals known to inhabit continental India |location=London |publisher=J. Wheldon |pages=132–134 |chapter=127. Herpestes griseus |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mammalsofindiana00jerdrich/page/132/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Sterndale, R.A. |year=1884 |title=Natural history of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon |location=Calcutta |publisher=Thacker & Spink |pages=222–228 |chapter=Herpestidae. The Ichneumon or Mungoose Family |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00ster/page/222/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Lydekker, R. |year=1894 |title=A hand-book to the Carnivora. Part 1: Cats, civets, and mungooses |location=London |publisher=Edward Lloyd Limited |chapter=XIII. The Mungooses. Genus ''Herpestes'' |pages=244–269 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbooktocarniv00lyde/page/244}}</ref> 
{{lang|hi-Latn|muṅgūs}} or {{lang|hi-Latn|maṅgūs}} in classical [[Hindi]];<ref>{{cite book |author=Platts, J.T. |year=1884 |title=A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English |location=London |publisher=W. H. Allen & Co. |page=1081 |chapter=منگوس मुंगूस muṅgūs, or मंगूस maṅgūs. The Mongoose, or ichneumon, Viverra ichneumon |chapter-url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/platts_query.py?page=1081}}</ref>
{{lang|mr-Latn|muṅgūs}} in [[Marathi language|Marathi]];<ref>{{cite book |author=Molesworth, J. T. |year=1857 |title=A dictionary, Marathi and English |edition=Second, revised and enlarged |location=Bombay |publisher=Printed for Government at the Bombay Education Society's Press |page=384 |chapter=मुंगूस muṅgūsa, Bengal Mungoose, Viverra Ichneumon, or Herpesteus Griseus |chapter-url=https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/molesworth_query.py?page=384 |access-date=5 April 2020 |archive-date=30 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130183559/https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/molesworth_query.py?page=384  }}</ref>
{{lang|te-Latn|mungisa}} in [[Telugu language|Telugu]];<ref>{{cite book |author=Brown, C.P. |year=1903 |title=A Telugu-English dictionary |edition=New, thoroughly revised and brought up to date second |location=Madras |publisher=Promoting Christian Knowledge |page=997 |chapter=ముంగి or ముంగిస mungi. The ichneumon or mongoose, a kind of weasel. Viverra ichneumon |chapter-url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/brown_query.py?page=997}}</ref>
{{lang|kn-Latn|mungi}}, {{lang|kn-Latn|mungisi}} and {{lang|kn-Latn|munguli}} in [[Kannada]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Reeve, W. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Sanderson, D. |year=1858 |title=A dictionary, Canarese and English |chapter=ಮುಂಗಿ, ಮುಂಗಿಸಿ, ಮುಂಗುಲಿ |publisher=Wesleyan Mission Press |location=Bangalore |edition=Revised, corrected and enlarged |page=787 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NycOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA787}}</ref>

The form of the English name (since 1698) was altered to its "-[[:wikt:goose|goose]]" ending by [[folk etymology]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language |last=Forsyth |first=M. |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin Books |chapter=Folk etymology |chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=U0zav6EgOwYC |page=77}} |page=77 |isbn=978-1-101-61176-0}}</ref> It was spelled "mungoose" in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

The plural form is "mongooses".<ref>{{Cite book |first1=H. E. |last1=Hinton |name-list-style=amp |first2=A. M. S. |last2=Dunn |title=Mongooses: Their Natural History and Behaviour |chapter=Preface |page=v |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1967 |oclc=1975837}}</ref>