|
|
|
|
. |
WORDS FOR THE BIRDS Those who are serious about bird-watching, or "birding," are not
content to stay at home and see who drops in. Rather they go out into the
wild to observe the more the 800 species of birds in Birders who live in the Most people are content simply to observe and enjoy these magnificent creatures. But those who are wordbuffs as well as birdbuffs may start wondering about the name of each species. The Red-tailed Hawk and the Broad-winged Hawk are obviously named for their appearance. The Goshawk's name is short for Goosehawk, since this bird feeds on ducks and geese. The Northern Harrier is also named for its favorite prey, the hare. These predators, formerly called Marsh Hawks, glide close to the ground looking for rabbits, mice, or frogs. The British jet plane called a Harrier, which can swivel its turbines and hover like a helicopter, it named after this bird, which sometimes hovers in a headwind while scanning the earth below. Another visitor to Of course, one doesn't have to drive to My trusty dictionary explains that the basic meaning of cardinal is "principal, chief." It comes from the Latin word cardo, "door hinge," because it is something upon which everything else turns or depends. A cardinal in the Roman Catholic church is a member of the Pope's council, one who traditionally wears a bright red robe as a symbol of his office. The color cardinal is named after this robe, and the bird is named for its color. (Actually, not all cardinals are cardinal; the females are greyish-brown with orange beaks, wingtips, and tails.) Occasionally, the cardinals are willing to share our feeder with orioles, who also take their name from their coloring. Oriole is a French word meaning "golden," derived from the Latin aurum, "gold." The word aura, a golden glow, comes from the same source. Other birds in our backyard are named not for what they look like, but what what they do to find a meal. The names of the woodpecker and the sapsucker are self-explanatory. But what about the nuthatch? Does he sit on a nut all day, hoping it will hatch eventually so he can eat the kernel? Actually, the hatch in nuthatch is from a French word meaning "to chop or split," as in our word hatchet. The nuthatch is a nutcracker, splitting open the shell to get at the kernel. Whether on
|
|
Copyright © 2006 Elizabethtown College All Rights Reserved
|