Why does “pygmy” mean “small”?

Born in a Thai zoo this past July, a pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng has become a giant-sized sensation.

In Thai, Moo Deng means “bouncy pork”—and yes, this bubble of a baby hippopotamid looks cute enough to eat. Moo, in Thai script, is หมู, and means “pork.” Deng is เด้ง, “bounce.” And hippopotamus literally, wonderfully, means “river horse” in Greek.

But what is the origin of pygmy? I’m so glad you, um, er, I asked. Let’s dive into the history and origin of pygmy. But first, some biology.

On the pygmy hippopotamus

The pygmy hippo is scientifically known as Choeropsis liberiensis. Choeropsis means “resembling a hog” in Greek. Liberiensis is a very Latin-y way of referring to the fact the animal is especially found in Liberia. 

One of two existing species of hippos, the pygmy hippo is solitary and nocturnal—and endangered, with a dwindling 2000 remaining in the swampy forests of West Africa. The pygmy hippo is also a fraction of the size of the common hippo, native throughout many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Adult male hippos can grow to about 10,000 pounds and 16.5 feet long. Pygmy hippos reach up to 600 pounds and about 6 feet. 

Hence pygmy, which has specifically been used as an adjective in natural history to name plants and animals that are smaller than more typical counterparts since the 18th century. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) finds pygmy ape in 1771. It records pygmy hippopotamus, for its part, in 1874. (The pygmy hippo is still pretty big, if you ask me.)

Pygmy originates in Greek legend

In Ancient Greek lore, the Pygmies were a tribe of dwarfs believed to dwell somewhere in Ethiopia or India. In the Iliad, Homer likens an assault of the Trojans to cranes, who would murderously descend on the Pygmies each year in their winter migration. (Who among us hasn’t battle the cranes? Who, I ask you, among us?)

Later, in his Imagines, Philostratus the Elder tells of the Pygmies themselves boldly descending on a slumbering Heracles, who, roused, easily gathered them up in his famed lion’s skin. Another account involving Heracles has the Pygmies using ladders to climb up his goblet to drink from it. Jonathan Swift, anyone? 

Elsewhere from myth, Herodotus and Aristotle also mention Pygmies, vouching for their facticity.

Pygmies, in Ancient Greek, is Πυγμαῖοι (Pygmaioi). This became Pygmaeī in Latin, and English adopted it as pygmy. 

The OED first records pygmy as Pigmey, used in reference to the mythical beings, in a 1387 translation of a medieval tome called the Polychronicon, which was a kind of history of the world in its day.

Pygmy is based on the Greek for “fist”

Behind the Greek Pygmaioi, itself based on an adjective meaning “dwarfish,” is πυγμή (pygmē), meaning “fist.” Pygmē also referred to a measure of the length from the elbow to the knuckles—about how tall these legendary Lilliputians were reputed to be. 

That length, a pygmē, is reckoned to be 18 fingers, or about 13.5 inches. As a measurement, it is a variant of the cubit, which was based on the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, when extended, not clenched in a fist.

The Ancient Greek noun pygmē, in turn, comes from the adverb πύξ (pýx), “with the fist.” Related is the Greek word for “boxer,” πυγμαχoς (pygmachos), literally “fist-fighter.” 

Someone who likes to fight can be described as pugnacious, from the Latin pugnāre, “to fight,” from pugnus, “fist.” And that Latin pugnus is cognate to the Greek pygmē.

A note on calling people “pygmy”

While pygmy is still used today to describe certain smaller species of plants and animals, as with the pygmy hippopotamus (or pygmy owl, shrew, date palm, and others), it’s derogatory to call a person who is short in stature pygmy. 

In the late 19th century, drawing from the Pygmies of myth, Europeans named Pygmies various peoples they encountered (and colonized) in Central Africa who are short in stature. These peoples may have indeed spawned the ancient Greek legends and other accounts.

There are also Pygmy peoples in Southeast Asia, similarly lumped under the name of Negrito.  

While Pygmy is still commonly used to refer to these groups of people, it’s in the very least a limiting and misleading catch-all name, as they are, for one, very culturally and biologically diverse. For another, it’s always best to try to use endonyms, or the name people natively use to refer to themselves (vs. exonym). Mbenga, Mbuti, Twa, Semang, to name only a few.

No cute button for this post. Moo Deng, our famous pygmy hippo, has got cuteness covered in (her) folds.

Hippopotamus is Greek for “river horse.” Discover much more about its etymology in this history of the word horse.