Editing Monitor lizard (section)

==Etymology==
The [[genus|generic]] name ''Varanus'' is derived from the [[Arabic (language)|Arabic]] word {{lang|ar|ورل}} ''waral'' [Standard Arabic] / {{lang|ar|ورر}} ''warar'' [colloquially] / {{lang|ar|ورن}} ''waran'' [colloquially], from a common [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] root ''ouran'', ''waran'', ''warar'' or '' waral'', meaning "lizard beast".<ref name="Sprackland">{{cite book |author=Robert George Sprackland |title=Giant lizards |publisher=T.F.H. Publications |location=Neptune, NJ |year=1992 |pages= 61 |isbn=0-86622-634-6}}</ref>

In English, they are known as "monitors" or "monitor lizards". The earlier term "monitory lizard" became rare by about 1920.<ref>[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=monitory+lizard%2F%28monitory+lizard%2Bmonitor+lizard%29&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%28monitory%20lizard%20/%20%28monitory%20lizard%20%2B%20monitor%20lizard%29%29%3B%2Cc0 Google ngrams]</ref> The name may have been suggested by the occasional habit of varanids to stand on their two hind legs and to appear to "monitor",<ref name="Sprackland" /> or perhaps from their supposed habit of "warning people of the approach of venomous animals".<ref>[[Horatio Nelson]], Matthew Henry Barker, ''The Life of Nelson Revised and Illustrated. With Original Anecdotes, Notes, Etc. By the Old Sailor'', 1836 [https://books.google.com/books?id=PapWAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA35 p. 35]</ref> But all of these explanations for the name "monitor" postdate Linnaeus giving the scientific name ''Lacerta monitor'' to the [[Nile monitor]] in 1758, which may have been based on a mistaken idea by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] that the [[German (language)|German]] word ''Waran'' (borrowed from Arabic) was connected to ''warnen'' (to warn), leading him to incorrectly [[Latin]]ize it as ''monitor'' ('warner', 'adviser').<ref name="Zimmern">{{cite book |author=Heinrich Zimmern |title=Akkadische Fremdwörter als Beweis für babylonischen Kultureinfluss |language=German |type=Thesis |publisher=Universität Leipzig |year=1915 |pages=52 |oclc=697605207}}</ref>

[[Austronesian languages]] spoken across [[Southeast Asia]], where varanids are common, have a large number of slightly related local names for them. They are usually known as ''biawak'' ([[Malay language|Malay]], including [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] standard variety), ''bayawak'' ([[Philippine languages|Filipino]]), ''binjawak'' or ''minjawak or nyambik'' ([[Javanese language|Javanese]]), or variations thereof.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://acd.clld.org/cognatesets/25202#4/4.56/109.28|title=*''bayawak'': monitor lizard, ''Varanus'' spp. (esp. ''V. salvator'')|last1=Blust|first1=Robert|last2=Trussel|first2=Stephen|website=Austronesian Comparative Dictionary|date=2010|publisher=Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology|access-date=January 30, 2022}}</ref> Other names include ''hokai'' ([[Solomon Islands]]); ''bwo'', ''puo'', or ''soa'' ([[Maluku Islands|Maluku]]); ''halo'' ([[Cebu]]); ''galuf'' or ''kaluf'' ([[Micronesia]] and the [[Caroline Islands]]); ''batua'' or ''butaan'' ([[Luzon]]); ''alu'' ([[Bali]]); ''hora'' or ''ghora'' ([[Komodo (island)|Komodo]] group of islands); ''phut'' ([[Burma|Burmese]]); and ''guibang'' ([[Manobo languages|Manobo]]).<ref name="bayl">{{cite journal|author=Mark K. Bayless|year=2004|title=The local names of Pacific monitor lizards (Sauria: Varanidae) of Oceania & Indo-Malaysia, excluding Australia|journal=Micronesia|volume=37|issue=1|pages=49–55|url=http://www.uog.edu/up/micronesica/dynamicdata/assetmanager/images/vol37/49-55%20bayless%2037%281%29.pdf}}</ref><ref name="gaulk">{{cite journal|author=[[Maren Gaulke]]|year=1992|title=Taxonomy and biology of Philippine water monitors (''Varanus salvator'')|journal=The Philippine Journal of Science|volume=121|issue=4|pages=345–381|url=http://scinet.dost.gov.ph/union/UploadFiles/download.php?b=Pages%20from%20PJS%20vol%20121(4)_66870.pdf&f=../Downloads/Pages%20from%20PJS%20vol%20121(4)_66870.pdf&t=application/pdf|archive-date=2021-08-01|access-date=2013-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801134103/http://scinet.dost.gov.ph/union/UploadFiles/download.php?b=Pages%20from%20PJS%20vol%20121(4)_66870.pdf&f=../Downloads/Pages%20from%20PJS%20vol%20121(4)_66870.pdf&t=application/pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In [[South Asia]], they are known as {{transliteration|mni|hangkok}} in [[Meitei language|Meitei]], mwpou in Boro, {{transliteration|mr|ghorpad}} घोरपड in [[Marathi language|Marathi]], {{transliteration|ta|uḍumbu}} உடும்பு in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and ''udumbu'' ഉടുമ്പ്  in [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]], {{transliteration|bho|bilgoh}} in [[Bhojpuri Language|Bhojpuri]], ''gohi'' (गोहि) in [[Maithili language|Maithili]], in [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] as තලගොයා / කබරගොයා ({{transliteration|si|talagoya [land monitor] / kabaragoya [water monitor where kabara means vitiligo] }}), in [[Telugu language|Telugu]] as ''uḍumu'' (ఉడుము), in [[Kannada language|Kannada]] as {{transliteration|mni|uḍa}} (ಉಡ), in [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Magahi]]  as गोह (''goh''), in [[Assamese language|Assamese]] as ''gui xaap'', in [[Odia language|Odia]] as ଗୋଧି (''godhi''), and in [[Bengali language|Bengali]] as গোসাপ ({{transliteration|bn|goshaap}}) or গুইসাপ ({{transliteration|bn|guishaap}}), and गोह (''goh'') in [[Hindi language|Hindi]] and गोधा (''godhā'') in [[Sanskrit]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Ralph Lilley |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/soas_query.py?qs=g%C5%8Ddh%C4%81%CC%81&searchhws=yes&matchtype=exact |title=A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages |last2=Turner |first2=Dorothy Rivers |date=1966 |publisher=Oxford university press |isbn=978-0-19-713550-1 |location=London |chapter=#4286}}</ref>

The [[West African Nile monitor]] is known by several names in [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], including {{transliteration|yo|awọ́nríwọ́n}}, {{transliteration|yo|awọ̀n}}, and {{transliteration|yo|àlégbà}}. In [[Serer language|Serer]]<ref name="Kasteel" /><ref name="Kastee2">Kesteloot, Lilyan, ''Dieux d'eau du Sahel: Voyage à travers les mythes de Seth à Tyamaba.'' Editions L'Harmattan, 2007, p. 11, {{ISBN|9782296185067}} [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WLqP6YqEVZoC&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q&f=false] (accessed 27 March 2025)</ref> and amongst the [[Wolofization|Wolofized]]-[[Serer people|Serers]]<ref name="Kastee2" /> of [[Kaolack]],  it is known as ''mbossé'' (or ''mboose'' in Serer<ref name="Kasteel" />)<ref name="Kasteel" /><ref name="Kastee2" /> or ''bar'' in [[Wolof language|Wolof]] (pronounced ''barrr'' with a long "R").<ref name="Kasteel" /> Mbossé is the [[Tutelary deity|tutelary]] and traditional [[totem]] of the city of Kaolack, (formerly part of the Serer precolionial [[Kingdom of Saloum]],  now part of modern-day [[Senegal]]).<ref name="Kasteel">{{cite book| last1 = Kesteloot| first1 = Lilyan | last2 = Veirman| first2 = Anja| author-link = | date = 1999| title = Histoire d'Afrique : les enjeux de mémoire|chapter = Un lieu de mémoire sans stèle et sans visite guidée : le culte du Mboose à Kaolack (Sénégal)| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/histoiredafrique0000unse/page/83/mode/1up| location = Paris| publisher = Karthala| page = 83-91| isbn = 9782865379040 |language = French}}</ref> The mbossé is also one of the totems of the noble [[Joof family]] born of [[Guelwar|Guelwar matrilineage]],<ref name="C.Diop Ant">[[Cheikh Anta Diop|Diop, Cheikh Anta]], ''The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Patriarchy and of Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity.'' Third World Press, 1978, p. 190, {{ISBN|9780883780497}}</ref> which is one of the many [[Serer maternal clans]]. The mbossé or ''mbosseh'' (in [[Gambian English]]) is one of the [[Serer religion#Holy ceremonies and festivals|Serer religious festivals]],<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Niang, Mor Sadio, [in] ''Ethiopiques'' numéro 31" - révue socialiste de culture négro-africaine 3e trimestre, [[Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire|IFAN]], (1982) [http://ethiopiques.refer.sn/spip.php?article905] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224154807/http://ethiopiques.refer.sn/spip.php?article905|date=24 December 2013}}.</ref> and should not be confused with the mythical and sacred tree [[Serer creation myth#Mbos|mbos]]―enshrined in [[Serer religion]] and [[Serer creation myth|Serer cosmogony]]―where the mbossé (the lizard) takes its name. 

Due to confusion with the large New World lizards of the family [[Iguanidae]], the lizards became known as "[[goannas]]" in Australia. Similarly, in [[South African English]], they are referred to as ''leguaans'', or ''likkewaans'', from the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] term for the Iguanidae, ''leguanen''.