It's funny how words develop! When the Romans first encountered elephants (as part of an enemy conqueror's army), they called them Luca Bos - 'Lucanian cows', after the region they encountered them in, because they had no other frame of reference for the creatures.
Roman: "Damn strange cows you have here in southern Italy, what with the mouth-horns and the prehensile nose."
Lucanian: "Bro what are you talking about"