Björn Bergenholtz
(former alias "Calalp")
Here´s a thread on a name that has remained unexplained for decades … so why not give it a go!
melba
● in the (African species!) Green-winged Pytilia Pytilia melba LINNAEUS 1758 (OD, here) as "Fringilla Melba" [claimed "Habitat in China" (from China), based on Edwards, who claimed it from Brazil!? Also note this link, regarding today's Pytilia melba citerior STRICKLAND 1853]
● and in the (Eurasian species) Alpine Swift (Apus) Tachymarptis melba LINNAEUS 1758 (OD, here) as "Hirundo Melba" ["Habitat ad fretum Herculeum" … from Gibraltar]
Today the HBW Alive Key gives us the following:
This version is (for example) also used in the Wasp (Opius) Utetes "melbus" PAPP 1878 [syn. U. aemulus HALIDAY1837] and in the Fossil Crinoid (Sea Lily) Synbathocrinus melba STRIMPLE 1938, that was later changed to melbus!?) Why the latter was changed I do not know, but the change itself points at some sort of understanding, doesn´t it?
Without having the faintest idea of either meaning… maybe melbus can help interpret the obscure melba?
Just a thought!
Björn
PS. If a useless thread; if nothing else, at least yet another entry for James!
melba
● in the (African species!) Green-winged Pytilia Pytilia melba LINNAEUS 1758 (OD, here) as "Fringilla Melba" [claimed "Habitat in China" (from China), based on Edwards, who claimed it from Brazil!? Also note this link, regarding today's Pytilia melba citerior STRICKLAND 1853]
● and in the (Eurasian species) Alpine Swift (Apus) Tachymarptis melba LINNAEUS 1758 (OD, here) as "Hirundo Melba" ["Habitat ad fretum Herculeum" … from Gibraltar]
Today the HBW Alive Key gives us the following:
Well, I cannot offer any better explanations [I did try to link them both to Mälby (somethimes written Maelby or Melby) and Sparrman's Museum Carlsonianum, but found nothing indicating either bird was found there, although they might have been present in those collections (!?), many specimens has since been lost or destroyed], however I noted that this Swift was later called "Cypselus melbus" (as here) or C. "Melbus" by Vieillot … the melbus is not listed in the HBW Alive Key!melba
● No expl. (Linnaeus 1758); perhaps from a supposed Chinese word or place; ex “Carduelis affinis viridis. Green Goldfinch” of Edwards 1750 (Pytilia).
● No expl. (Linnaeus 1758); ex “Hirundo riparia maxima. Greatest Martin or Swift” of Edwards 1751. Coomans de Ruiter et al. 1947, write, “Melber is een Z.-Duitsch woord voor meel-handelaar, hetgeen te denken geeft, als men weet, dat de Huiszwaluw [Delichon] in Duitschland Mehlschwalbe heet.” Macleod 1954, mentions “Melba” as an Old German name for a gull Larus referred to in Albertus Magnus (De Avibus, 1478). I am unable to locate this name in Albertus Magnus, although there may be a tenuous connection between the Alpine Swift (long thought to be a kind of swallow Hirundo) and a gull (related to the terns or sea swallows Sterna). Eigenhuis & Swaab 1992, posit that ‘melba’ might be a short form for ‘melanoalba’ or ‘melalba’ (Gr. μελας melas, μελανος melanos black; L. albus, white). Linnaeus certainly referred to these two colours in his diagnosis (as he did also re Pytilia), but he tended not to be prone to such playful fancies (Tachymarptis).
This version is (for example) also used in the Wasp (Opius) Utetes "melbus" PAPP 1878 [syn. U. aemulus HALIDAY1837] and in the Fossil Crinoid (Sea Lily) Synbathocrinus melba STRIMPLE 1938, that was later changed to melbus!?) Why the latter was changed I do not know, but the change itself points at some sort of understanding, doesn´t it?
Without having the faintest idea of either meaning… maybe melbus can help interpret the obscure melba?
Just a thought!
Björn
PS. If a useless thread; if nothing else, at least yet another entry for James!