Une dinde is a turkey. But where does this word come from? Well, the French called the popular bird after India (contraction of de Inde, “from India”), the supposed country of the bird’s origin.
So why “turkey” in English? Well, the American turkey bears some resemblance with the guinea fowl, a bird native to eastern African that was imported to Europe through the Ottoman Empire. Once imported, Europeans came to call the guinea fowl turkey because the bird was traded by Turkish people. And when settlers in the New World began to send similar-looking fowls back to Europe, they also called them turkeys.
French with Valerie 