Meaning

noun usually herbivorous land turtles having clawed elephant-like limbs; worldwide in arid area except Australia and Antarctica

originFrom Middle English tortuse, tortuce, tortuge, from Medieval Latin tortuca, of uncertain origin. May be from Late Latin tartarūcha, from tartarūchus, from Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartaroûkhos, “holder of Tartaros, Tartarus, the land of the dead in ancient stories”), because it used to be thought that tortoises and turtles came from the underworld and they were commonly paired with such…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0