Tortoise Definition

Origin of Tortoise

• Middle English tortuse, tortuce, tortuge, from Medieval Latin tortuca, possibly from Late Latin tartarÅ«cha, from Late Latin tartarÅ«chus (“of Tartarus"), from Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartarouchos, “from Tartaros, Tartarus, the land of the dead in ancient stories"), because it used to be thought that tortoises and turtles came from the underworld; or from Latin tortus (“twisted").

  From Wiktionary

• Middle English tortuce turtle, tortoise probably partly from Anglo-Norman tortouse (variant of Old French tortue) and partly from Medieval Latin tortūca both ultimately from Vulgar Latin tartarūca feminine of *tartarūcus of Tartarus turtle¹

  From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition