Lookups for ‘chanticleer’ trending on Merriam-Webster site
Here's the definition of "chanticleer" from Merriam-Webster (merriam-webster.com): "A 'chanticleer' is a rooster. The word comes from the name of a rooster who appeared in various narratives.
"A chanticleer is a rooster, or an adult male chicken, perhaps not the most common name for a sports team. The word comes from the Middle English Chantecleer, the name of a rooster who appeared as a character in various narratives, going as far back as the name Chantecler, the rooster in the French Roman de Renart (known in English as Reynard the Fox). The French name comes from the words chanter ("to sing") and cler ("clear").
"The pronunciation we (and most other dictionaries) provide is \chan-t?-?klir\, which sounds close to \chan-tuh-CLEER\. It should be noted that the school that this team is associated with gives a variant pronunciation for the word; they feel that it should be pronounced \SHON-ti-cleer\."
The Chanticleer mascot is derived from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," specifically "The Nun's Priest Tale." In the early 1960s, CCU's athletic teams were known as the Trojans until a group of Coastal students and their English professor - basketball coach Cal F. Maddox - brought up the idea of a new mascot. The Chanticleer was from the same family of the animal kingdom as the Gamecock, the mascot of the University of South Carolina, CCU's parent institution at the time, which was an important consideration in those days. Thus the Chanticleer was born, giving the growing college its own identity and one of the most unique mascots in college athletics.
Chauncey, as he is fondly known on campus, has his won statue and his own Twitter handle, @ChaunceyCCU. He sometimes rides into football games on a motorcycle.
For more information, visit coastal.edu/aboutccu/historytraditions/thechanticleer.