Zool. [a. F. aye-aye, a. Malagasy ai’ ay’ (also dialectally ahay, haihay) ‘supposed to receive its name from its peculiar cry,’ Richardson, Malagasy Dict.] A. quadrumanous animal (Cheiromys Madagascariensis), nocturnal, squirrel-like, of the size of a cat, found only in Madagascar, where it was first noticed by Sonnerat, c. 1775; it is classed with the Lemurs, but in many points approaches the Rodentia.
1781. Pennant, Quadrupeds (1792), II. 138. Aye-Aye S[quirrel), with broad ears … Inhabits Madagascar … takes its name from its cry.
1827. Griffith, Cuvier’s Anim. K., III. 86. But one species of the Aye-Aye is known.
1862. Lond. Rev., 30 Aug., 198. The most interesting of recent acquisitions of the Zoological Society, is the Aye-Aye of Madagascar.
