janvanderbrugge
Well-known member
Before the better known "Planches Coloriées des Oiseaux de la Belgique" by C.F.Dubois and his son Alphonse Dubois, Charles Frédéric Dubois published a little book on birds in which the descriptions and plates were based on specimens from his own collection. The title is "Naturgeschichte der Vögel Europas mit ihren bekannten Nestern, Eiern und ihren nach der Natur gezeichneten Abbildungen." The first part (Heft I) appeared in 1835.
I think it can be considered a work of minor importance, because of the often very concise descriptions and the poor quality of the illustrations. In spite of the title a number of tropical species is portrayed too, which offers some obsolete German names, not fit for any usage now.
The curious aspect is that to four species, all from Brazil, a name was added which really puzzled me. When I had found what they were (literally), I decided to submit it here and call my message "Extinct bird names". They are not names of extinct birds, nor classical names (after all Latin and Greek are extinct languages), but these four:
Bocring-uann for Coracina scutata (= Pyroderus scutatus)
Jakereiun-gipakiu for Psarocolius cristatus
Tiack-wick-mung for Psarocolius haemorrhous (Cacicus haemorrhous)
Nit-not-nop for Trogon curucui
These strange words are given as an addition to the endemic Tupi names, and they are "botocudisch" (says Dubois). Must be botocudian in English.
Well, Botocudo or Krenak is an extinct language which was spoken by the Botocudo people of Minas Gerais, a region of Brazil. (In 2006 there were 150 individuals of this tribe, with only 10 native speakers of their language, says Wikipedia) I have no idea where Dubois had gathered these names and why he presented them in his little book. Somehow it reminds me of the many exotic bird names which Buffon had published and sometimes used in an adapted form as a base for his species names! (colma, manikup, etc.) I am still in doubt if there is any sense in adding the four names to my own files; possibly there is even no point in trying to discover the meaning of them . . .
(there seems to be an ethnolinguistic dictionary for indigenous languages of South America).
If someone has become curious now to have a look at this source: Dubois' publication is in the Bioheritage Library. It is cited by several authors as Orn.Gal. for 1839; I suppose this is another version of the German edition (with has the text in the traditional Gothic printing), for the page and plate numbers are the same.
Enjoy, reactions are welcome.
Jan van der Brugge, Netherlands
I think it can be considered a work of minor importance, because of the often very concise descriptions and the poor quality of the illustrations. In spite of the title a number of tropical species is portrayed too, which offers some obsolete German names, not fit for any usage now.
The curious aspect is that to four species, all from Brazil, a name was added which really puzzled me. When I had found what they were (literally), I decided to submit it here and call my message "Extinct bird names". They are not names of extinct birds, nor classical names (after all Latin and Greek are extinct languages), but these four:
Bocring-uann for Coracina scutata (= Pyroderus scutatus)
Jakereiun-gipakiu for Psarocolius cristatus
Tiack-wick-mung for Psarocolius haemorrhous (Cacicus haemorrhous)
Nit-not-nop for Trogon curucui
These strange words are given as an addition to the endemic Tupi names, and they are "botocudisch" (says Dubois). Must be botocudian in English.
Well, Botocudo or Krenak is an extinct language which was spoken by the Botocudo people of Minas Gerais, a region of Brazil. (In 2006 there were 150 individuals of this tribe, with only 10 native speakers of their language, says Wikipedia) I have no idea where Dubois had gathered these names and why he presented them in his little book. Somehow it reminds me of the many exotic bird names which Buffon had published and sometimes used in an adapted form as a base for his species names! (colma, manikup, etc.) I am still in doubt if there is any sense in adding the four names to my own files; possibly there is even no point in trying to discover the meaning of them . . .
(there seems to be an ethnolinguistic dictionary for indigenous languages of South America).
If someone has become curious now to have a look at this source: Dubois' publication is in the Bioheritage Library. It is cited by several authors as Orn.Gal. for 1839; I suppose this is another version of the German edition (with has the text in the traditional Gothic printing), for the page and plate numbers are the same.
Enjoy, reactions are welcome.
Jan van der Brugge, Netherlands
