Hello all! I'm wondering about the etymology of Lesson's Lesbia, which today contains two species, per the IOC list. [GBIF notes] that this name was published in 1833 and cites the publication as "Trochil., Ind. gén., xvii." I'm assuming that "xvii" here is referring to the page number of the OD. However, I can't seem to find any similar publication by Lesson in 1833 anywhere that summarizes his works. But, when I went through all of his publications that are on BHL, [this one here], which is listed as potentially being published in 1832, does have that genus name on the correct page, so perhaps this is the OD? The title could potentially be shortened to the GBIF abbreviation too, I guess.
Anyway, I was digging into this because I was curious whether these hummingbirds were named as lesbian hummingbirds, which, I think, would be pretty interesting, especially in 1833. If the above BHL link is the OD, it doesn't look like Lesson mentions anything about this etymology in his description (which is only about the beak and tail). However, he does title this group "les saphos", which I thought was an interesting title when looked at together with the genus name. I can't find such a word in the Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française to see what Lesson meant by "les saphos". I also checked both Latin and Greek dictionaries to see if I could find any meaning there (in case he was bringing a Latin or Greek word into French in his publication), and I didn't find anything. However, in both English and French, allusions to the poet Sappho (of Lesbos) are where we get the word "lesbian" from. And, for what it's worth, "lesbienne" seems to have been a word in French by the 1700s with the same meaning as we use today in English for "lesbian" (ie, woman who loves other women) (though that sense wasn't recorded in English until the 1730s). So, I imagine that Lesson was probably aware of lesbians as existing and probably also the relationship between the Greek poet and the word (I wouldn't be surprised, given his occupation and when he lived, if he even knew at least some Greek).
So, anyway, I guess my question is, what are people's thoughts on the etymology of the genus Lesbia here? Did Lesson name these birds for lesbians? Or is there some other meaning I'm missing here? My knowledge of French is pretty tenuous at best and this is 1800s French, so I'm a bit out of my depth in that regard. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Anyway, I was digging into this because I was curious whether these hummingbirds were named as lesbian hummingbirds, which, I think, would be pretty interesting, especially in 1833. If the above BHL link is the OD, it doesn't look like Lesson mentions anything about this etymology in his description (which is only about the beak and tail). However, he does title this group "les saphos", which I thought was an interesting title when looked at together with the genus name. I can't find such a word in the Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française to see what Lesson meant by "les saphos". I also checked both Latin and Greek dictionaries to see if I could find any meaning there (in case he was bringing a Latin or Greek word into French in his publication), and I didn't find anything. However, in both English and French, allusions to the poet Sappho (of Lesbos) are where we get the word "lesbian" from. And, for what it's worth, "lesbienne" seems to have been a word in French by the 1700s with the same meaning as we use today in English for "lesbian" (ie, woman who loves other women) (though that sense wasn't recorded in English until the 1730s). So, I imagine that Lesson was probably aware of lesbians as existing and probably also the relationship between the Greek poet and the word (I wouldn't be surprised, given his occupation and when he lived, if he even knew at least some Greek).
So, anyway, I guess my question is, what are people's thoughts on the etymology of the genus Lesbia here? Did Lesson name these birds for lesbians? Or is there some other meaning I'm missing here? My knowledge of French is pretty tenuous at best and this is 1800s French, so I'm a bit out of my depth in that regard. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
