What is the literal translation of 'kujira' (Japanese word for 'whale')

[HMS_Irruncible]

@Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker

‘Gorira’ is pretty obvious importation of the foreign word ‘gorilla,’ but what bout ‘kujira?’ Not knowing any Japanese I’d guess it means something like ‘really big fish.’ So what is it?

The word ‘whale’ in English doesn’t decompose to anything like ‘really big fish’. Why would you assume it does in Japanese? (It doesn’t, for the record).