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About the Archive
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.
The word "zoo," short for "zoological garden," phonically pleasant and redolent of the images and sounds of a collection of animals, was bound to adopt a second meaning as a place of "confusion or disorder."
The roots of the word "zoo" are in the ancient Greek word zoion, meaning "living being."
Zoological gardens began as royal playthings. An emperor in China in the 12th century B.C. created a "garden of intelligence" for his specimens. "Zoo" surfaced in English almost as soon as they were opened for the public in the mid-1800's.
The meaning "place or situation marked by confusion or disorder," as the word is defined in the third edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, was in use early this century.
Another meaning is "a place where students congregate."
A version of this article appears in print on , Section
B
, Page
4
of the National edition
with the headline:
So Where Do Zoos Come From?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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