[yesbabyyes]

I'm pretty sure all variants of buffalo are from the same root?

Edit: A buffalo is a member of a number of species of large antelope, to buffalo is to either act as a buffalo or hunt buffalo, and Buffalo is any of several places where there used to be a lot of buffalo before people buffaloed them to near extinction.

On the other hand, there's a town in Poland called Police...

[tropo]

To "buffalo" is to confuse, befuddle, deceive, puzzle, baffle, confuse, mystify, bewilder, or bamboozle.

It can also be to impress or intimidate by a display of power, importance, or authority.

It doesn't seem to mean hunting or acting as a buffalo. I can't find those in any dictionary.

[yesbabyyes]

to impress or intimidate by a display of power, importance, or authority.

Have you seen a bison? Their display of power is quite intimidating.

According to [0], it can mean to hunt buffalo.

[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/buffalo#Verb

[onychomys]

Although antelope and buffalo are both in the family bovidae, a buffalo isn't a large antelope. That's especially true of the animals that Americans call buffalo and antelope, where Antilocapra isn't even in that same family.

[yesenadam]

I found this fascinating:

"An antelope is a member of a number of even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a wastebasket taxon (miscellaneous group) within the family Bovidae, encompassing those Old World species that are not cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, or goats."

- they're defined by where they're from and what they aren't. There are 91 species. So, for example, a gnu (wildebeest) is an antelope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope

[yesbabyyes]

My bad; the ancient Greeks were not so discriminating. ;)

I am aware that the bison is not even a buffalo. But then again, it is, isn't it? That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.

[skj]

Do you find buffalo particularly bewildering? or in the city of Buffalo?

[apocolyps6]

buffalo (v.)

"alarm, overawe," 1900, from buffalo (n.). Probably from the animals' tendency to mass panic. Related: Buffaloed; buffaloing.

Buffalo

city in western New York state, U.S., of disputed origin (there never were bison thereabouts), perhaps from the name of a native chief, or a corruption of French beau fleuve "beautiful river."