The Naming of Things: Killer Whale vs Orca

Killer Whale or Orca – That is the Question.

T124C by Brendon Bissonnette

I don’t know if there’s any cetacean whose common name inspires more debate than that of the Killer Whale, I mean Orca, I mean Killer Whale.

When two people who love this species meet their conversation may go something like this:

“You love Killer Whales? I love Killer Whales! Let’s be best friends!”

“Ok! But did you know that Killer Whales aren’t actually whales? They’re the largest species of dolphin. That’s why I call them Orca instead.”

“I did know that. But did you know that technically all dolphins are toothed whales? So Killer Whale is actually still correct.”

“Ya but it’s so mean. They’re such beautiful animals I think Orca is a more respectful term.”

“Only if you don’t speak Latin. Orca comes from their scientific name which basically means demon from hell!”

J27 “Blackberry” by Gary Sutton

Both of these people have made some excellent points and both sides are correct. Mostly.

Let’s start with the scientific name – Orcinus orca. “Orcinus” translates from Latin to “belonging to Orcus.” If you’re up on your Roman mythology you may recognize the name Orcus. He was the God of the underworld (sometimes this is also Pluto, don’t get me started…) and he was also the punisher of broken oaths. Given that the underworld was so closely related to him it was often simply referred to as Orcus itself. So yes, “Orcinus” roughly means “kingdom of the dead” or, more loosely: “from hell.” “Orca” on the other hand does not mean “demon.” It translates to the much more mundane “large-bellied pot or jar.” This was likely in reference to the body shape of the Killer Whale and some documents suggest that ancient romans eventually used the term “Orca” to refer to any whale or large fish. So loosely, Orcinus orca means “whale from the underworld or hell.”

Now for the Killer Whale term. Likely this common name comes from sailors and fishermen who observed the animals hunting and killing large whales and therefore called them “whale killers.” Overtime the words were reversed and up until the 1960s and 70s no one had any problem with it because Killer Whales were largely considered to be fierce and feared predators. English isn’t the only language to vilify these animals either – in Spanish their common name is “ballena asesina” which means “assassin whale.

While the term “Killer Whale” does raise a lot of eyebrows and invites us to point out how wrong it is I can’t help but appreciate how right it is too. These animals are whales (see the earlier “all dolphins are whales but not all whales are dolphins” point) and they are killers. Any animal that eats another animal is a killer. That’s nature. What’s awe-inspiring about Killer Whales is just how GOOD they are at killing. Each population is made up of teams of highly trained, specialized, lethal predators that have the ability to take down pretty much whatever they want. They can kill a great white shark! They can kill a blue whale! Some even jump out of the water to grab seals and sea lions from beaches and ice floats! They’re amazing!!!

Photo by Whale Watch Western Australia

Whether you’re team “Killer Whale” or team “Orca” you may have very strong feelings about which term to use. Here at Whale Tales we use the category “Killer Whale” (you can find it under the Dolphin category!) because it’s still how they’re officially recognized by Canadian scientists but interchange the terms depending on what our storytellers use. Hopefully that’s ok with the whales from hell. 😉

PS: read our 650+ Killer Whale/Orca stories here

PPS: This blog was written before the proposed speciation of Biggs and Resident Killer Whales. Until these new species are officially recognized we will continue to group all ecotypes under our Killer Whale/Orca category.

Meme by Emma Luck

Comments

13 responses to “The Naming of Things: Killer Whale vs Orca”

  1. Omg! This was a great thing to read I really enjoyed it my mom and dad use to tell me I was so in love with killers whales and that I just probably go see a killer whale up close and I was like well ok I will. And after I read this I remember my mom and dad telling me something about killers whales being called the demons from hell and so I decided to read this I really enjoyed it hopefully u can make so more of these bout killer whales!😘I would surely love to read some more about our mystery animals and what they are known for lol!🙈🙈

    1. I think they should be called called killer demons lol idk just messin around sorry👉🏻😎👈🏻

      1. I like the *killer* *assassins *
        Though “oxymoron ” saying same thing differently ???? it’s a great read.
        The cute little” Panda ” same”as they dangerous I’ve always loved both ” scientific products names etc.

        1. With respect, tautology or, in a certain interpretation, neoplasm, but not oxymoron

  2. When was the term killer whale first used ?

    1. It was first used a very long time ago. Fisherman called them whale killers

  3. So translation “belonging to Orcus, a large bellied pot”. 😀

  4. Call it what you will, a rose is still a rose. But to clarify, you are using Euroamerican thinking when you say “from hell” This concept didn’t exist in Greek and Roman mythology.

    Orcinus from “of the kingdom of the dead”, or “belonging to Orcus, a god of the underworld in Etruscan and Roman mythology, punisher of broken oaths. The species ‘orca” is a bit more tangled- Ancient Romans used orca (plural orcae) for these mammals, possibly borrowing (via Etruscan?) the Ancient Greek ὄρυξ (óryx), a “kind of marine mammal” (possibly Risso’s Dolphin).

    “Orca … means demon from hell!”
    Not correct- the reason for the slight ambiguity in Orcinus, “of the Kingdom of…” or, “belonging to…” Is that Orcus, and Hades, refers to both the space/location, and the entity, and though it is called the underworld, or place of the dead, it would be incorrect to call it hell. It was divided into regions of either punishment, middle ground, and the Isles of the Blessed. Sound familiar?

    1. Steve Lafferty Avatar
      Steve Lafferty

      Very interesting etymological analysis, thanks!

    2. Theodoor Westerhof Avatar
      Theodoor Westerhof

      Well, Hell is originally the half dead-looking Norse goddess of the realm of the dead… So it is a perfect counterpart if you are looking for a Germanic counterpart, do not bother too much avout the gender difference or the exact detail,(I mean, Hell seems to be a nice and friendly, just very scary looking or so and it does not seem to be a high quality afterlife, but still nothing like a place of torture) and you are not held back too much by low-brow christian mythology,

      The problem is rather that though “orca” indicating a large marine mammal in English has a very high probability of being a descendant of the Latin word indicating a large marine mammal, and the Latin word in that meaning could be a borrowing from Greek of sorts, but there is a synonym (and doublet) of “orca”: Orc, and that synonym is a homonym of the Orc from fantasy stories, and the word Orc of fantasy story is derrived from Orcus and was used for hell in Old English and was understood as indicating a demon by some people including a certain Tolkien. So a descrption of “Orc” in that sense could indeed be “a demon; (from) hell”, but if it is, it does not refer to a large marine mammal. The association of that word with Russian forces is another etymologically unrelated synonym.

      It is thus a very normal etymological story of confusion and misidentification.

  5. ekamjot Avatar
    ekamjot

    there not killer whales there killer dolphins!

  6. willam2.0 Avatar
    willam2.0

    that’s true

  7. Wow such a thing. Discussion is also impressive. High score for this ones.

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