Editing Frog (section)

=== Etymology ===
The origin of the order name ''Anura''—and its original spelling ''Anoures''—is the [[Ancient Greek]] [[alpha privative]] prefix {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀν-}} ({{grc-transl|ἀν-}} from {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀ-}} before a vowel) 'without',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)1 |title=ἀ |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |work=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |date=1940 }}</ref> and {{wikt-lang|grc|οὐρά}} ({{grc-transl|οὐρά}}) 'animal tail'.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=ou)ra/ |title=οὐρά |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |work=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |date=1940 }}</ref> meaning "tailless". It refers to the tailless character of these amphibians.<ref name="BaillyBook">{{Cite book |last=Bailly |first=Anatole |date=1981 |title=Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français |location=Paris |publisher=Hachette |isbn=978-2010035289 |oclc=461974285 }}</ref><ref name="BaillyWeb">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tabularium.be/bailly/ |title=Greek-french dictionary online |last=Bailly |first=Anatole |website=www.tabularium.be |access-date=December 9, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite OED|anuran, n. and adj.}}</ref>

The origins of the word ''frog'' are uncertain and debated.<ref name=":0">{{cite OED|frog, n.1 and adj.}}</ref> The word is first attested in [[Old English]] as {{lang|ang|frogga}}, but the usual Old English word for the frog was {{lang|ang|frosc}} (with variants such as {{lang|ang|frox}} and {{lang|ang|forsc}}), and it is agreed that the word ''frog'' is somehow related to this. Old English {{lang|ang|frosc}} remained in dialectal use in English as ''frosh'' and ''frosk'' into the nineteenth century,<ref>{{cite OED|frosh {{!}} frosk, n.1.}}</ref> and is paralleled widely in other [[Germanic languages]], with examples in the modern languages including [[German language|German]] {{lang|de|Frosch}}, [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] {{lang|no|frosk}}, [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] {{lang|is|froskur}}, and [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''{{Not a typo|(kik)vors}}''.<ref name=":0" /> These words allow reconstruction of a [[Proto-Germanic language|Common Germanic]] ancestor {{lang|gem-x-proto|*froskaz}}.<ref>Jerzy Wełna, '[https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/18454/1/31welna.pdf Metathetic and Non-Metathetic Form Selection in Middle English]', ''Studia Anglica Posnaniensia'', 30 (2002), 501–18 (p. 504).</ref> The third edition of the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' finds that the etymology of {{lang|gem-x-proto|*froskaz}} is uncertain, but agrees with arguments that it could plausibly derive from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] base along the lines of {{lang|ine-x-proto|*preu}}, meaning 'jump'.<ref name=":0" />

How Old English {{lang|ang|frosc}} gave rise to {{lang|ang|frogga}} is, however, uncertain, as the development does not involve a regular [[Sound change|sound-change]]. Instead, it seems that there was a trend in Old English to coin nicknames for animals ending in -''g'', with examples—themselves all of uncertain etymology—including ''dog'', ''hog'', ''pig, stag'', and ''{{Not a typo|(ear)wig}}''. ''Frog'' appears to have been adapted from {{lang|ang|frosc}} as part of this trend.<ref name=":0" />

Meanwhile, the word ''toad'', first attested as Old English {{lang|ang|tādige}}, is unique to English and is likewise of uncertain etymology.<ref>{{cite OED|toad, n.}}</ref> It is the basis for the word ''tadpole'', first attested as [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|taddepol}}, apparently meaning 'toad-head'.<ref>{{cite OED|tadpole, n.1.}}</ref>