In Russian, the word for bear (медведь) literally means "the one who knows about honey" (мед = honey, ведь = to know).

I'm skeptical on this one because "bera" was the old english (1000 years ago). Latin is Ursa, and as the OP says greek is Arktos, so "bera" can only potentially mean "bear" in Germanic (Ger: Beer etc.). All three languages (latin, OE, Greek) come from indo-european, an ancient language hypothesised to have arisen in the caucasus region. The reconstruction they give at https://sites.psu.edu/josephvadella/2017/09/15/the-animal-who-must-not-be-named/ which repeats this story is hrktos for bear. The hr/ part can plausibly become fr/br and the -os part is just the nominative. So I'd give proto-germanic *Frh / Prh / Brh. Which becomes Bear quite easily. Sanskrit has Shrktas (obviously close to Arktos). So the basic word in all languages seems to be Urs/Hrks/Brs. Compare Ulpo/Lupo - latin - for wolf (ulf/ulfur in old germanic). Ur/Br/Wr/Fr are common swaps in Grimm's law. So meh, I am skeptical.

So "brown bears" are "bear bears"

The name Bjorn, which means bear, is slightly less appealing now. Have you seen Brown Thing today? What's Brown Thing up to? Shall I ask Brown Thing on a date? LOL

In Russian it's "медведь" - "Honey eater". 😆

Beowulf name is also a metaphor for bear. Wolf of bees. Not 100% right, though.

Kioh81

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So basically this is the Voldemort of animals...

So the word "bear" is the real world equivalent of "he who must not be named".

Antarctic means the opposite of Arctic and not luck of bears. See also "antipodes".

Arctic named after North Star Arctos, Greek for the Little Bear constellation, (little Dipper) not the animal.

Hey, it wasn't just ancient people that were scared pissless by bears, by the way.

Fascinating!

Not quite. Polaris is in the Bear constellation, son the Arctic is north. Antarctica is south because it is opposite (or anti-) the Arctic (Bear)

Bears-and-...7b8767.jpg

Doesn't Antarctic mean "Not Bear"?

In czech it is medvěd which is something like honeywise.

What about black bears? They're just "black brown thing"? Hey maybe saying the original name would actually summon it. I guess we'll never know. Wait, is there an even more original name than arctus? Arctus isn't the word that would summon it? Does arctus also mean brown thing?

My son's nickname is Bear. He'll love this.

Antarctic? Not precisely "the land without bears" but more like "the land located on the opposite side of the land of bears."

It was possibly known as Arktos in Ancient Greek. The name of the bear wasn’t forgotten. As Arktos was believed to summon a bear. Top post and it’s full of skat. Why does everybody gotta lie about easily debunked facts on the internet?

Tbh I would be scared pissless meeting a bear in the wild

Honestly, I want to know the sacred name for bear.

I mean, the word bear in English refers to the animal. It doesn’t mean brown thing. It may have done in the past, but not anymore. A little precision, please.