German "Dachs", Dutch "das", Norwegian "svin"-"toks"; Early Modern English: "dasse"), probably from the PIE root "*tek'-" "to construct," so the badger would have been named after its digging of setts (tunnels); the Germanic term "*þahsu-" became "taxus" or "taxō", -"ōnis" in Latin glosses, replacing "mēlēs" ("marten" or "badger"), and from these words the common Romance terms for the animal evolved (Italian "tasso", French "tesson/taisson/tasson"—now "blaireau" is more common—, Catalan "toixó", Spanish "tejón", Portuguese "texugo") except Asturian "melandru".