Which was named first, Turkey the country, or turkey the bird?

Okay, I looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary for you.
Turkey, the country (ie. “The land of the Turks, ‘Turkey in Asia’ and ‘Turkey in Europe’; formerly sometimes Turkestan or Tartary”) appears to be the earlier word to enter the English language, in approx. 1369.

Turkey, the bird, (ie. Short for TURKEY-COCK, -HEN, app. applied orig. to the Guinea-fowl, a native of Africa, with which the American turkey was at first confounded) entered English sometime between 1550 and 1600.

It should also be noted that the fact that they share the same name is a complete coincidence (as in, neither one was “named after” the other one).

As a side note, the French call a turkey “dinde” (originally “poulet d’Inde), which means “from India”. Go figure.

That’s funny, Harp, I didn’t know that!

Yeah, but then they also call guinea pigs “cochons d’Inde” (pigs from India), even though they’re from S. America. Maybe they just figured that India was the source of all exotic fauna.