# Why is there a T in "Antarctica"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 9, 2024, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381 "2024-12-09T06:36:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2024, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/21 "2024-12-10T23:55:24Z")
Trivia: ‘Arctic’ comes from the Greek word for bear: Arktos. The name doesn’t come from the iconic polar bear, but from constellations in the northern sky of the Arctic, ‘Ursa Minor’ (Little Bear) and ‘Ursa Major’ (Great Bear).
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/22 "2024-12-11T00:17:33Z")
See also post 8.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/23 "2024-12-11T00:22:49Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> ‘Arctic’ comes from the Greek word for bear: Arktos.
> **[The True Name of the Bear](https://xkcd.com/2381/)**
>
> Thank you to Gretchen McCulloch for fielding this question, and sorry that as a result the world's foremost internet linguist has been devoured by the brown one. She will be missed.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/24 "2024-12-11T02:08:22Z")
Believed by some to be linked to the etymological origins of the name “Arthur”.
> **[Arthur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur)**
>
> Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur.
> A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Italian it is Arturo.
> The earliest attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin text Historia Brittonum, where it refers to a circa 5th century Romano-British general who fought against the invading Saxons, and who later gave rise ...
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/25 "2024-12-11T10:43:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Believed by some to be linked to the etymological origins of the name “Arthur”.
That’s interesting, because the name “Beowulf” (or “bee-wolf”) is also a euphemism for bear.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/26 "2024-12-11T16:09:38Z")
Turns out Gretchen McCulloch is a real person:
> **[Gretchen McCulloch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_McCulloch)**
>
> Gretchen McCulloch (/məˈkʌlək/) is a Canadian linguist. On her blog, as well as her podcast Lingthusiasm (which she cohosts with Lauren Gawne) she offers linguistic analysis of online communication such as internet memes, emoji and instant messaging. She writes regularly for Wired and previously did so for The Toast. In 2019, she published a book on internet linguistics, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language.
> McCulloch obtained a master's degree in linguistics at McGill Unive...
I did not know that.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/27 "2024-12-11T16:34:55Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> See also post 8.
Well, sure, there’s that… but I posted it with much more panache!
Sorry Francis\_Vaughan, I missed your post
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/28 "2024-12-11T18:05:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Turns out Gretchen McCulloch is a real person
Well, she was, until she inadvertently summoned the Brown One. 😜
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/29 "2024-12-11T18:06:25Z")
I should update her wikipedia page, then.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/30 "2024-12-11T18:33:14Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> Continents without bears: Africa [snip]
Wow, I’ve never even thought about that, but now that you mentioned it, yeah, I also never heard about African bears. But I’m still a little mind-blown: given that Africa is connected to Eurasia, a continent full of bears, why is that? Not even bears in Northern Africa, Maghreb? Is the whole continent too hot or too dry for bears?
(I wished we still had Colibri around. He definitely would have known the answer.)
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/31 "2024-12-11T21:11:38Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> Not even bears in Northern Africa, Maghreb? Is the whole continent too hot or too dry for bears?
There was - the Atlas Bear. It was hunted to extinction 150 years ago.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/32 "2024-12-11T21:13:52Z")
Ah damn, I could have seen that coming. We’re a terrible species to all the others.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/33 "2024-12-11T22:26:39Z")
See also
> **[Land Mammals](https://xkcd.com/1338/)**
>
> Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-t-in-antarctica/1011381/34 "2024-12-11T22:55:27Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> > [@Northern\_Piper](#):
> >
> > Couldn’t we just rename it then: Penguinland!
>
> Not precise enough, I am afraid. There are penguins up to the equator in the Galapagos Islands.
[Thread about it.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-penguins-live-in-the-northern-hemisphere/968794)
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