weasel

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/weasel/Mustelids.shtml

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/weasel/Weaselprintout.shtml

animalia chordata mammalia carnivora mustelidae mustela

fu'ivla, anyone?

Obviously we're going to have to (arbitrarily) divide up the animal kingdom into things our gismu apply to, and hope we get adequate coverage. Until then, I (as self-appointed defender of jbocre: Type 3 fu'ivla) propose ratcrmustela (in the full knowledge that a weasel is not a rodent); and mabrnmustela (if the former is unacceptable) -- nitcion

I think ratc- as the prefix fu'ivla is just too far off. mabrnmustela works.

How would you go about distinguishing a ferret from a weasel from an otter, etc.? Or do they all just get the same word?

a more specific fu'ivla. or, preferably (to me) a tanru. xamsi mabrnmustela = sea otter, for instance.

Woah! Mustela refers to everything in the genus, not everything in the family, which are mabrnmustelida. So an otter (Lutra lutra for the Eurasian River Otter) is not a mabrnmustela, but a mabrnlutra (or more safely, a member of the subfamily Lutrinae = a mabrnlutrina; the sea otter is Enhydra lutris.) OTOH, I gather, ferrets and minks belong to the same genus as weasels. So do we introduce the species name? Probably. The species plus genus name? Starting to look icky.

In any case:

• European Mink: Mustela lutreola
• Mink: Mustela vison

• Ermine: Mustela erminea
• Long-tailed Weasel: Mustela frenata

• Least Weasel: Mustela nivalis

And of course, 'weasel' means just the last two, which don't make up a Linnaean taxon. So yeah, the answer probably is "The members of Genus Mustela which are...", in a tanru or something.

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(For most purposes ratcykai mlatu seems sufficient.)

ro brode broda cu broda .iku'i lo mabrnmustela na mlatu

(ratcykai mlatykai.)

Valid, though you won't catch me using it. :) mabrnmustela is easier to remember, for me.

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And we mustn't forget Pierre's question of 'how many locks contain a weasel?' (He told me the answer, and when I gave up and asked how (The answer, which I leave as an exercize for the reader) locks contain a weasel he said they don't contain it, they keep it from getting out.)

I maintain that the weasel contains the lock. - mi'e. .kreig.daniyl.