giraffe: [17] The 16th-century name for the ‘giraffe’ was camelopard, a compound of camel and leopard appropriate enough in view of the animal’s long neck and leopard-like spots, but in the 17th century a rival term came on the scene – giraffe. This was borrowed from either French girafe or Italian giraffa, both of which go back to Arabic zirāfah, a word probably of African origin.
