From: no_email@invalid.invalid   
      
   Jeff Barnett  wrote:   
   > While a docent at the Albuquerque Zoo, I was informed that   
   > "hippopotamus" came from the Greek and meant "river horse". Any truth to   
   > that?   
      
   Well, yes, hippo- is horse and potamo- is river.   
   There must be something to it, because in the (portuguese-based) guinean   
   creole it is pis-kabalu, plainly 'horse fish' (by now you'll know english   
   is in the minority in placing qualifiers before nouns).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)