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Mystery abbas in Tangara abbas (Deppe, 1830) (1 Viewer)

Taphrospilus

Taphrospilus

Well-known member
As per HBW alive entry today:


abbas

Late L. abbas, abbatis abbot < L. abba father.
● No expl. (Deppe 1830, Preis-Verz. Säug. Vögel Mexico, 2); probably complimenting Tanagra episcopus Linnaeus, 1766 (cf. Abbot Lawrence (1792-1855) US businessman, politician, Ambassador to UK 1849-1852 (per 2014) (Thraupis).
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I really wondering how Beolens et al. here came to their conclusion. I do not see any link.

Of course the OD (reprint in JfO) (see No. 70) gives no hint on etymology of Abbas.

But note: It might be Martin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein who gave the name.

I have no issue with the Latin derivation from James but I am wondering why father fits to a bird name?

Is there any good explanation? Or could here be a possible explanation?

Abba ist der allgemeine Nahme eines arabischen Rockes von mehrerley Farben und Arten. Abba hießen die arabischen Fürstenmäntel, sonst auch von ihren Streifen oder Borden Alborda d.i. die gestreiften oder bordirten genennt.
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Translation: Abba is the general name of an arabic skirt of different colors and types. Abba was the name for arabic prince coat, else named because of their stripes or braids (Alborda).
 
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I can't really help about the issue at stake but (to James): in the HBW entry, shouldn't "complimenting" read "complementing"?
 
I have recovered sufficiently from the excesses of Christmas and the New Year with family and friends (not much champagne, but lots of Sancerre and Bristol Cream!) and return to the hurly-burly of BirdForum. A happy and prosperous 2016 to all BirdForum readers.
In the case of Thraupis abbas I use "complimenting" in its sense of "tribute of courtesy", rather than "complementing" in the sense of "fulfilling, completing." (Late Latin abbas abbot; Late Latin episcopus bishop).
 
Taphrospilus said:
I really wondering how Beolens et al. here came to their conclusion. I do not see any link.
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● Yellow-winged Tanager Thraupis abbas DEPPE 1830 as "Tanagra Abbas" a k a "Abbot's Tanager" (and that´s where Beolens et al went astray, I think, their entry follows the latter Common name. James, and the HBW Alive Key, is focusing on the scientific name).

However; even if Richmond gives Lichtenstein Credit (here) for coining the name, but see Stresemann's detailed article Ferdinand Deppe's Travels in Mexico, 1824-1829 (here), from The Condor 1954 (p.88 and 91).
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There is no question that Wilhelm Deppe was the author here. Not much known about the author apart from older brother of Ferdinand Deppe and

Rendant bei dem Königlichen zoologischen Museum, wohnhaft Oberwallstrasse No. 6.
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Here we find:


Da er am 10. März Berlin verläßt, und Ende Aprils d. J. sich in Bordeaux einzuschiffen gedenkt, so ersucht er, die ihm zu machenden Mittheilungen recht bald hierher an ihn selbst, oder nach der Zeit seiner Abreise an seinen bevollmächtigten Bruder Wilhelm Deppe gelangen zu lassen.

Berlin am 1. März 1828.

Ferd. Deppe
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@ Björn I think very hard (if after all available) to find a digitalized version of the original publication.
 
"Anyone know where to find a digitized version of the Original "Preis-Verzeichniss …", the 1830 one?" asked Bjorn. A 1941 Condor article says "no known copy of the original exists." Its full name is (1830): Preis-Verzeichniss der Säugethiere, Vogel, Amphibien, Fische und Krebse, welche von den Herren Deppe und Schiede in Mexico gesammelt worden, und bei dem unterzeichneten Bevollmächtigten in Berlin gegen baare Zahlung in Preuss. Courant zu erhalten sind. And I have not found it online. Edit: It was reprinted by J. Cabanis in 1863 (“Lichtenstein’s PreisVerzeichniss
mexicanischer Vögel etc.,” J. Ornithol. 11: 54-60): http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33302787#page/66/mode/1up .
 
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As anyone might have noted I did delete my request (in Post "4) of trying to find a "digitized version of the Original Preis-Verzeichniss ... 1830 ". I´ve got no need for it, but found Stresemann's work sufficient enough, so don´t try to find it on my behalf. I had no real reason to participate in this thread, simply wanted to help. Regarding "Abbas" I´m saticfied, this is Martin's issue. I´ve got far too many other etymologies to look into (and the Abbot/abbas bird isn´t one of them), but thanks for trying.

I´m done in this thread.

Anyone else looking for it: Good luck!

Björn

PS. It does look like Ciencias,UNAM do have a Copy (here) ;)
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@ Rick: Thank you for that. But see:

Calalp said:
However; even if Richmond gives Lichtenstein Credit (here) for coining the name, but see Stresemann's detailed article Ferdinand Deppe's Travels in Mexico, 1824-1829 (here), from The Condor 1954 (p.88 and 91).
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Apart from that Deppes OD from 1830 is as well present at the Naturkundemuseum Berlin. According to them Wilhelm Deppe died 15. Dec. 1844
 
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Taphrospilus said:
Apart from that Deppes OD from 1830 is as well present at the Naturkundemuseum Berlin. According to them Wilhelm Deppe died 15. Dec. 1844
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Even if there is no bird named after him. He was baptized as Pierre Guillaume Deppe. Born 8. March 1800 in Berlin here and died 15. December 1844 as well in Berlin here. P.S. Guillaume = Wilhelm.
 
Sorry I have to come back on The Eponym Dictionary of Birds...

Abbot's Tanager Thraupis abbas Deppe, 1830 [Alt. Yellow-winged Tanager]
No explanation is given by the author but we believe this may refer to Abbot Lawrence (1792–1855), a merchant, manufacturer, diplomat, statesman and philanthropist who may have had some links with the Deppe brothers, one of whom, Wilhelm, first described the tanager. Abbot Lawrence supported the natural sciences in general and the work of Louis Agassiz in particular. He could easily have met or known of Ferdinand Deppe (1794–1861), Wilhelm Deppe's younger brother, who collected for the Berlin Museum in Mexico (1824–1827) with William Bullock and Count von Sack (who trained Deppe to prepare skins). Ferdinand Deppe returned to Mexico (1828–1829) with a botanist friend and collected botanical and zoological specimens as well as native artifacts. He collected a little in California and also in Hawaii (1830). He was also an artist and gardener (he has a rose named after him), and is honoured in several plant names. The majority of his bird specimens were studied and catalogued by by Lichtenstein, although very poorly and with little acknowledgement of Deppe. Most of Deppe's collections were only studied much later. Wilhelm Deppe was the accountant of the Zoological Department at the Berlin Museum; in his description of the tanager (1830) he did no more than copy Lichtenstein's notes.
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...as I agree to the comment on Ornithologist Obscura: Eponyms with Unknown Owners (not to all what's written there as e.g. Richard's Pipit seems quite solid).

What the authors did not consider is that the scientific name and the common name may not have the same origin. An example is Riefer's Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl (de la Llave, 1833)). The common name most probably derived from Trochilus riefferie Bourcier, 1843 here which is today a synonym to Amazilia tzacatl. Therefore we can find as well in French l'Ariane de Rieffer.

So to get an idea it would be interesting when and where the name Abbot's Tanager was first used/mentioned instead of obscure speculating. There might be no connection to abbas at all. Ferdinad Deppes life was very good described in A Prussian in Mexican California: Ferdinand Deppe, Horticulturist, Collector for European Museums, Trader and Artist e.g. the relationship to Count von Sack was not the best at the end. The botanist friend Deppe return with to Mexico was Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede. Ferdinad Deppe was born 1795 and not 1794.

Did anyone of these here...
1645217160956.png
...use Abbot's Tanager (Sclater, Ridgway, Moore or Sclater and Salvin)?
 
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In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I would tend to regard abbas as the Latin noun abbas, -atis for an abbot (Abt in German), as suggested in the Key. The "Abbot Tanager", thus -- as per your link and, actually, the vast, vast majority of 20th C sources that use "abbot" in this bird's name -- like Tanagra episcopus might be called "Bishop Tanager", Tanagra archiepiscopus "Archbishop Tanager", etc. (See the link in Rick Wright's post #9 above for more.) Not the "Abbot's Tanager".

(The only obvious eponym that I can see proposed as new in Deppe 1830 is Tringa Deppii "Lichtenstein", which is a clear genitive. Turning the given name "Abbot" into the Latin word "Abbas", then using it in the nominative as a bird name, doesn't strike me at all as something that Lichtenstein would have been likely to do in 1830. Many names in Deppe 1830 that are common nouns in apposition are capitalised -- I don't think the capitalisation should count as an argument in favour of an eponym.)
 
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