■土拨鼠,英文名叫 Guinea pig ,为什么和猪弄一起了，有来源吗?

■土拨鼠,英文名叫 Guinea pig ,为什么和猪弄一起了，有来源吗?

How Guinea pig (豚鼠) came to be thought of as "pigs" is not clear. One thought is that some of the sounds (声音像) they make reminded people of pigs, for they emit a variety of sounds, some very similar to a pig's squeal. They are built somewhat like a pig, with a large head relative to the body, a stout neck, and a rounded rump with no tail of any consequence（体形像); they also spend a large amount of time eating（吃像）. They can survive fairly well for long periods of time in small quarters, like a 'pig pen'（住像）, and were thus easily transported on ships to Europe.

The animal's name carries connotations of it being a pig in many languages（其他语言中对其的称呼）. The German word for them is Meerschweinchen, literally "little sea pigs" (sailing ships stopping to re-provision in the New World would pick up stores of guinea pigs, which provided an easily transportable source of fresh meat; Meerschwein = porpoise, another food source for sailors). The Welsh term is mochyn cwta ('little pig'), the French Cochon d'Inde (Indian pig); the Dutch used to call it guinees biggetje (Guinean piglet). In Italian the term is either Porcellino d'India (Little Indian Pig) or Cavia Peruviana (Peruvian Cavy).
The scientific name of the common species is Cavia porcellus, with porcellus being Latin for "little pig". Cavia is derived from Portuguese çavia (now savia) from the Tupi word sawiya, meaning rat.

guinea pig。通常被叫做豚鼠、荷兰猪、荷兰兔、老鼠兔等 名字的来源可能是因为从前一只卖一个 "Guinea" (此为古时的英国铜板), 又长得胖胖的像猪因此称为Guinea Pig

Perhaps alteration 可能为 influenced by Guinea[ used as a name for any faraway unknown country 受Guiana影响,(作为任意一遥远并且不知道名称的国家) of Guiana Guiana的变化.