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Assistance with basic bird etymology (1 Viewer)

solifuge

Member
Hi all
I am in the process of writing a school book for learners here in Namibia. The current cohort of scientists trained many decades ago that has given such great service to Namibian conservation is not getting any younger but there are not that many youngsters anxious to follow in their footsteps, it would seem.
I wish to develop a series of books on plants, places and animals to engage the interest of schoolchildren in their local environment. A bird book will be the first in a series and the 'hook' I am using is to link Namibian birds with the people that they are named after, as well as including some other birds from around the word named after unusual characters. (The same basic theme will be used in the other books, too.)
Given the target readership, and the concerns of publishers to develop material that is relevant, I am anxious to try to include not just the usual white, male Victorian collectors etc. I need to research birds named after women scientists too and - if possible - Africans and people of colour.
I am also struggling to find definitive 'origin stories' - for example I have come across conflicting info about who named Abdim's stork....so any assistance that you can offer in terms of providing some stories of interest that I can follow up, or accurate details, would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.
 
Hi solifuge and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

I've moved your post to the Etymology part of the Taxonomy forum, as they're more qualified to answer your questions I think. I see you're subscribed to this thread, so you should be able to find it easily.

I hope you get the answers you need and enjoy your time here with us.
 
I am also struggling to find definitive 'origin stories' - for example I have come across conflicting info about who named Abdim's stork....so any assistance that you can offer in terms of providing some stories of interest that I can follow up, or accurate details, would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

The original description is to find here. I assume the confusion is about Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich & Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg versus Martin Hinrich Lichtenstein and who is the real author. A question for the ICZN specialists (but assume Lichtenstein is Mr. Right as he published the OD).

Anyway to find to whom a bird name is dedicated the best place to find apart from OD is Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology (in this case for abdimii).

With my limit skills in latin I am not sure is the Key entry is correct:

in honorem Abdimii Principis, qui a patre Mehemed Ali Nubiae provinciam tenet, hoe nomine insignita

versus

El Arnaut Abdim Beğ (1780-1827) Albanian Gov. of Dongola Province, Egyptian Sudan 1821-1825 (Sphenorhynchus).

Hope this helps.
 
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And I still stubbornly claim that abdimii [as earlier claimed in thread Some additional etymological information – Part I , post # 1 (No. 4), here] does commemorate the Albanian officer: Mr. Abidin (ca 17801827), … and so on. The "Abdim" claim is simply an ever-repeated miss-interpretation (from Lichtenstein 1823, ex Hemprich & Ehrenberg in litt., and onwards), based on his nick-name.

Anyone feel to oppose that claim, please keep it in that certain thread, simply to avoid "Solifuge's" thread being filled with issues not intended.

Most of any other (scientific) bird names will be clearly explained by the HBW Alive Key (to Scientific Names in Ornithology) as mentioned, and linked to, in Martin's post #3.

Don´t hesitate to ask whatever question you might have. There are, a few, very few, birds being named after "Africans".

Björn
--
 
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Hi Solifuge,
You will doubtless have a copy of a Southern African Checklist or field-guide. I suggest you go through it, noting the names of those birds that occur in Namibia and then consult the free website HBWAlive Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology. Names and words that come immediately to mind include: aguimp, klaas, nabouroup, narina, and tachardus. Many of Andrew Smith's names are based on Tswana, Zulu, and other tongues.
You could also consult C. Clinning, 1989, Southern African Bird Names Explained, published by SAOC, and there are some fascinating snippets in A Flight Through Time: to Celebrate the 22nd International Ornithological Congress Durban 1998, published by Durban Met. Library Services, but if you have any specific problems you could do no better than enlist the aid of the enthusiasts in this forum.
 
Hi everyone who has been so helpful so far.
To avoid posters wasting time through a misinterpretation of my original request (my fault), please allow me to make clearer what I need.
I am a birder and have the relevant field guides and can do some research online to find out more regarding the names of birds that are patronyms etc., and who named the species.
However I am writing a book for children (approx.11 years of age) so the information I am trying to gather is not so much to do with the finer details of taxonomy or original species identification as the stories behind WHO gave a bird its name, WHO the bird commemorates, and - very importantly and what I am struggling with - WHY? I need to create narratives and compelling characters so, for example, with regard to Abdim's stork I want to know why someone felt that Abdim deserved to be remembered by having a bird named after him, not just basic biographical info. It is the story of the relationship between bird namer/discoverer and the person commemorated that I wish to explore, if you like, so really I need to look at birds named perhaps in the field rather than the lab?
By 'Africans' I don't just mean people from sub-Saharan Africa by the way - I would count Egypt as geographic Africa for the purposes of my book. Ditto Mauritius etc.
Thanks again for joining me on my adventure.....
 
Hi again, Solifuge,
I appreciate your further explanations. Scientific bird-names honouring people (eponyms) were coined mainly for three reasons; 1. the recipient aided the original explorers/collectors in some way, financial or otherwise (e.g. Abdim Beğ (this is the Turkish and original form of Bey (the ğ being silent)), because he was the governor of Nubia under the patronage of the Khedive Mehmet Ali Paşa (= Pasha) in the Egyptian Sudan where Hemprich and Ehrenberg collected. 2. the recipient worked in the same field (e.g. ornithology) as the collectors/describers (and was usually their boss in the musty museum!). 3. the recipient was a relative of the collectors/describers, or in the royal family of their home state (the latter usually accompanied by an effusive homily declaring how brilliant, intelligent, condescending, nature-loving, blah, blah, was the Archduke or King!).
 
In this case you have to go through the original description of the bird. Often (not always) they mention the collector, may give a dedication statement and/or give you additional hints where to look. In case of Abdim's stork there is link to Hemprich & Ehrenberg and to Abdimii Principis. But the interpretation is sometimes tricky as to see e.g. here:

FWIW: "Inhabits Dongola, quite frequent in the month of May-June near the Nile, made known under this name by the Prussian travellers in honour of Abdimius Princeps, who holds the province of Nubia from pater Mehemed Ali.
"Abdimius Princeps", or "Prince Abdimius", might probably be translated simply as "Abdim Bey".
"pater Mehemed Ali" literally is "father Mehemed Ali", but I presume "pater" is used here in the meaning of "chief" or "lord"...? Might probably be translated as "Muhammad Ali Pasha".

From there you might end up in other old publications like ...
Humboldt, Alexander von: Bericht über die Naturhistorischen Reisen der Herren Ehrenberg und Hemprich; durch Ägypten, Dongola, Syrien, Arabien und den östlichen Abfall des Habessinischen Hochlandes, in den Jahren 1820-1825. In: Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, physikalische Klasse. Berlin, 1826, S. 111-134.

or Symbols physics avium from Hemprich & Ehrenberg. All this is time consuming. But I agree to James reasons about naming a bird apart that mythology might be considered too.
 
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All this is time consuming.

Indeed it is! Especially as I am not living in a place where I have access to a comprehensive library of any description (apart from my own small one) and have access only to patchy Internet.
Which is kind of why I ended up here....
You are the people who can join up the dots for me, without sending me down too many rabbit holes or getting into unnecessary technical detail. So, for example, I have figured out how to find scientific names that are based on women's names ('fatimalimae') and who this refers to (Maria de Fátima C. Lima) and now, somehow, I need to be hooked up to a nice story - if one exists - about how/why she was so honoured. One that can inspire the next generation of African scientists...........
Ditto for one of my favourite birds, the Stanley Crane. I would actually prefer to focus on common names for this age group of readers so does anyone know a credible story for how the bird came to be named?
So you can see I am actually working backwards: I need good stories that will grab the attention of pre-teens, and then introduce the bird in question as the sort of punchline.
 
One approach may to be compile a list of bird species that you think might be worth including in your book. Start with as long a list as necessary and then trim down based on how easy it is to find a "good" story to go with the name.

I understand the desire to work with common names - makes sense for your target audience.

But what's the aim of the book(s)? How will these stories get them to engage with their environment? Are you pitching it as "these people showed an interest in the wildlife they saw and as a result had a bird/plant/whatever named after them - it could happen to you too, you could be immortalised with a species named after you"? Are you trying to get them interested in the birds or the people behind the names?

Taking Stanley Crane as an example - is the story about the bird or about Stanley? Are you focusing on how the bird became to be known as Stanley Crane, what Stanley contributed to have the bird named after him? If so, I'm worried the stories may not be varied enough for the reasons outlined by James Jobling above.
 
Ditto for one of my favourite birds, the Stanley Crane. I would actually prefer to focus on common names for this age group of readers so does anyone know a credible story for how the bird came to be named?

The common name derived most likely from the synonym Anthropoides stanleyanus here.
 
The common name derived most likely from the synonym Anthropoides stanleyanus here.
And in this case, the story will be very limited, I'm afraid.
Viri Illustrissimi EDOUARDI Baronis STANLEY, Societatis Linneanae Pro-Praesidis, scientiae Ornithologicae peritissimi, et Musei Zoologici longe lateque celeberrimi digni possessoris, haec nobilis speciosissimaque avis nomine honoretur.
= "This noble and most beautiful bird is honored by the name of the illustrious man EDWARD Baron STANLEY, Vice-President of the Linnean Society, most expert in Ornithological science, and worthy owner of a universally most famous Zoological Museum."

The species was described here by Nicholas Aylward Vigors, an Irish zoologist, based on a bird held captive at the Tower of London, which he thought to come from the East Indies (see "Habitat in Indiâ Orientali"). The name was a simple homage from the author to Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, who -- as far as can be judged from the text -- doesn't appear to have been directly involved in the description.
 
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"Habitat satis frequens mense Majo Junio ad Nilum prope Dongolam, a peregrinatoribus borussicis in honorem Abdimii Principis, qui a patre Mehemed Ali Nubiae provinciam tenet, hoc nomine insignita....".
FWIW: "Inhabits Dongola, quite frequent in the month of May-June near the Nile, made known under this name by the Prussian travellers in honour of Abdimius Princeps, who holds the province of Nubia from pater Mehemed Ali.
"Abdimius Princeps", or "Prince Abdimius", might probably be translated simply as "Abdim Bey".
"pater Mehemed Ali" literally is "father Mehemed Ali", but I presume "pater" is used here in the meaning of "chief" or "lord"...? Might probably be translated as "Muhammad Ali Pasha".
On re-reading this, I actually wonder whether Lichtenstein did not really intend to say that Mehmet Ali Paşa was the father of "Prince" Abdim...?

For clarity:
[...] a peregrinatoribus borussicis [...] = by the Prussian travellers
[...] in honorem Abdimii Principis, qui [...] = in honour of Prince Abdim[ius], who
[...] a patre Mehemed Ali [...] = from [his?] father Mehmet Ali
[...] Nubiae provinciam [...] = the province of Nubia
[...] tenet, [...] = holds,
[...] hoc nomine [...] = with this name
[...] insignita. = distinguished.
 
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This is from Clem. Fisher (editor), 2002, A Passion for Natural History. The Life and Legacy of the 13th Earl of Derby, published by Nat. Museums & Galleries on Merseyside, p. 124 (with coloured plates); "In 1826, a description of Anthropoides Stanleyanus was published by Nicholas Aylward Vigors, along with an illustration of the species by James de Carle Sowerby, both based on a bird then living at the Tower of London. It was very soon realised that Vigors' scientific name was invalid, representing a species described over 30 years previously (Anthropoides paradisea), but the vernacular epithet 'Stanley Crane' has remained in use ever since. Vigors did not explain exactly why his species was dedicated to Lord Stanley, but it may have been because it was he who first drew attention to the existence of the bird in the Tower menagerie. Lord Derby's personal observations on Stanley Cranes, published by J. E. Gray [1846], record that: 'I possessed for some years several individuals of that species of the genus Anthropoides which my late friend Dr Latham had done me the honour to distinguish by my name, in consequence of my having had the good fortune to draw his attention to the bird, which I had seen in the Tower of London'. Strangely, Derby seems to have forgotten who had named the species in his honour twenty years earlier, and perhaps also the individual to whom he had conveyed the original information! Stanley Cranes lived on Lord Derby's estate for over 15 years".
 
Re females commemorated in bird names. Wives, mistresses, patronesses, royalty--plenty; "scientists"--few or none.
 
Re females commemorated in bird names. Wives, mistresses, patronesses, royalty--plenty; "scientists"--few or none.

At least one female ornithologist comes to mind: Marie Koepke (Cacicus koepkeae and Megascops koepkeae ) .

Andy
 
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