javelina

the word 'javelina' entered english in the early 19th century from american spanish, where it originally referred to a wild boar or spear. this spanish term itself is a variant of the old spanish 'javali', which was borrowed from the old occitan 'javelin', meaning 'wild boar'. the occitan term traces back to the late latin 'gabalinum', a derivative of the latin 'gabalus', a regional term for a wild boar. the semantic connection to a spear likely stems from the use of boar spears in hunting, a link also seen in the unrelated english word 'javelin', which comes from a different old french root. thus, 'javelina' is a classic example of a loanword whose form and meaning were adopted wholesale into english to name a specific new world animal.

this word is a direct loanword from spanish. it is not productively formed from smaller, meaningful english morphemes.