2011-09-04 [Triola]: But a horse does go "vrinsk!" Everyone knows that >.>

2011-09-04 [hanhepi]: when my horse made the "vrinsk" noise, i'd tightened her girth so far it made her knees buckle. part snort, part grunt, part gasp for air, part "bitch, loosen that up or i'll bite you on the left cheek". 
we call the normal neighing sound a "whinny".

2011-09-06 [iippo]: But would you write that in a children's book? "Whinny! went the horse, woof-woof went the dog"? I thought that "whinny" was just the verb for the action of "horse makes noise"?

2011-09-06 [Triola]: Actually, the Norwegian words for the horse and donkey sounds are both such verbs, we don't have direct onomatopoeia on those ones.

2011-09-06 [nehirwen]: I don't think we have one in Dutch either. (for horse)

2011-09-06 [hanhepi]: yes we do. "Valley of the Horses" and every book after it by Jean Auel is filled with prime examples of it. the problem is that horses make so many darn noises i think. 

2011-09-06 [Triola]: Those books are hilarious xD

2011-09-06 [iippo]: Hmm, finnish makes the noise ("ii-ha-haa") and the verb ("hirnua") very different.

2011-09-06 [hanhepi]: ii-ha-haa actually sounds more like a horse than any of the english words. XD

2011-09-07 [iippo]: Duck says "kvaak".

2011-09-07 [Viking]: You still can't figure out the table?

2011-09-07 [iippo]: Well, you've indulged me and now I'm lazy >_>

2011-09-07 [Viking]: I'm gonna add it this time only because I'm adding other animals.

2011-09-07 [windowframe]: I would expect the kid's book to say 'neigh' went the horse. Whinny looks odd to me.

2011-09-07 [Viking]: I think so too. Same with 'bark' for dog and 'bray' for donkey.

2011-09-07 [hanhepi]: well, if we believe Jonathan Swift, "In book 4 of Gulliver's Travels, the name of the Houyhnhnms is an onomatopoeia for the whinny of a horse." 'whiiiiiiiinnnnnnny' looks a hell of a lot more like the sound than 'Houyhnhnms' does to me. "neigh" looks more like it'd be used like "the horse neighed loudly as the mare left the pasture." put whinny there and it looks funky.
most of these critters make more than one noise anyway... my dog Bear for example makes a noise that sounds like a high pitched hum through the nose (dear god, can't spell that), and my dog Bella says BAAAARRRooooooooooooooooooo instead of "woof".
"bray" does look wrong though.

2011-09-07 [nehirwen]: I think Houyhnhnms is very striking. x)

2011-09-07 [windowframe]: I wouldn't believe anything Jonathan Swift says in Gulliver's Travels. I don't think satire and parody are really the best source of onomatopoeic animal sounds, especially not from the guy who deliberately calls a city Laputa. :P

2011-09-13 [iippo]: I don't know any more of these animal noises in Finnish. o.O Maybe a crow says "kraak" but a donkey...?

2011-09-13 [hanhepi]: i'm still stumped on the elephant noise.

2011-09-13 [Viking]: I almost didn't include elephant, but it was better than aardvark.