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Which name came first? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter OwlTalon
- Start date
Xenospiza
Distracted
The wizard was "Merlin" first I guess.
For the falcon, I found:
Middle English merlioun, from Anglo-French merilun, alteration of esmerilun, augmentative of Old French esmeril, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German smiril merlin. The name is probably derived from a brownish-blue type of stone.
It's possible that at a certain moment, the people thought it was called after the magician, and called it Merlin as well.
For the falcon, I found:
Middle English merlioun, from Anglo-French merilun, alteration of esmerilun, augmentative of Old French esmeril, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German smiril merlin. The name is probably derived from a brownish-blue type of stone.
It's possible that at a certain moment, the people thought it was called after the magician, and called it Merlin as well.
timwootton
Well-known member
. .. or because it (the bird) had mercurial and magical ways of movement (?). Surely the name Merlin - the wizard (itself a derivation) came first as it appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'History of the Kings Of Britain' in the 1100s. Language was totally different 'back then' but the name has survived.
bitterntwisted
Graham Howard Shortt
Curiously, "Birds Britannica", normally a mine of such information, says only, "The name 'merlin' is itself of unknown (if ancient) origin, but it has nothing to do with the wizard of Arthurian legend."
glaciermint
Well-known member
'All the Birds of the Air' by Francesca Greenoak states that the name Merlin is believed to have come from the French Emerillon, itself derivied from the Latin Merula i.e. Blackbird. Quite why this should be I can't imagine but it is far removed from Wizards and King Arthur
