A large ground squirrel found in Eastern Europe and Asia, similar to a marmot; also spelled bobak.
From Russian 'bobak,' which comes from a Turkic language source. The animal was named by peoples who shared its habitat and the word traveled westward through European languages.
Animal names often travel across language barriers without translation—we borrowed 'bobac' wholesale from Russian because Europeans encountered the actual animal and wanted the authentic name. It's more efficient than inventing a descriptive phrase like 'Eastern ground squirrel.'
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