Something I was wondering the other day was how did the Common Gull get its name? Although far from rare, compared to other gulls like the Black-headed and Herring they are not what I would call common either (at least in my corner of the country). Was there a time in the past decades/centuries when they were significantly more common than now?
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Common Gull - origin of name (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Stoggler
- Start date
What I've always heard is that "Common Gull" was so named because, unlike most other British gulls, it was "common" inland as well as near the sea. Dto for "Common Sandpiper". Interestingly enough, even the Common Gull's latin name --Larus canus--stresses the ordinariness of this species, since canus means "gray" & Common Gulls are no more or less gray than most of the other gulls in their range.
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It's also said that 'common' refers to common land i.e. Common Gull was the gull of the common, which seems quite apt to me.
Steve Dudley
aka The Toadsnatcher
Andrew is spot on, it was named Common after its habit of nesting on common land, usually the poor, damp grazing land in a district which the pheasant farmers were forced to graze their livestock on. So it was 'the gull of the common'.
Do you have a reference for this opinion by any chance, or is it just something you've read somewhere? I just did a (very) quick google but didn't come up with anything.
Folk etymology has many pitfalls!
I also heard this origin quoted many times, can't say whether its myth or truth though
Strandman
Well-known member
common land- how intriguing: never knew that
a quick google suggests reference here:
Okill, Dave (2004) English names for Western Palearctic birds British Birds 97(7): 348-9
Richard Klim
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FWIW, Francesca Greenoak 1997 (British Birds: their Folklore, Names and Literature) concludes "that the word 'common' refers not to the frequency of occurrence but is used in the Middle English sense of having no distinguishing features".
Rob Smallwood
Well-known member
Typical gull then!
Interesting. Applies also to Common Sandpiper does it, in her opinion?
Sounds like a worthwhile book; as soon as I sign off here I'll start looking for a copy.
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JTweedie
Well-known member
There are new and second hand copies on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/British-Birds...1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334338754&sr=8-1-fkmr1 but it might work out cheaper to import a new one from the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Birds-Their-Folklore-Literature/dp/0713648147/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
Thanks. Just ordered a "tight, clean" used copy from a bookstore in Michigan for the princely sum of $5.90 (inclusive of shipping!).
JTweedie
Well-known member
You can't beat that!
Richard Klim
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Greenoak: "Sandpiper, the standard name for this bird, was originally (according to Willughby, 1678) a Yorkshire local name".
In this case, the prefix 'Common' is presumably just the usual modern qualifier designed to avoid ambiguity with 'other' sandpipers.
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Alastair Rae
London birder
According to my Oxford Dictionary of British Bird Names, Thomas Pennant named it Common Gull in 1768 because it was the most numerous of its genus. Also, I recall reading (sorry, no cite) that Black-headed Gull didn't used to be so common in England and Victorians went down to the Thames to watch them when they where still a novelty.
I don't have a copy of Pennant, but here's what I take to be the relevant passage (as quoted in the OED: gull, n.1, common gull).
"1766 {Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 424. Common Gull. This is the most numerous of the genus. It breeds on the ledges of the cliffs that impend over the sea."
I don't know if this moves us much forward, since the extract simply juxtaposes "Common Gull" & "most numerous" without making an explicit link between them, and thus leaves the door open to the various other "origin theories" scouted in the thread: "inland gull", "gull of the commons", "nondescript gull". Very slippery creatures, words!
Xenospiza
Distracted
That sounds more like Kittiwake to me!
Before all this started I'd been thinking that 'Common' meant they were distributed widely over many countries and even continents. In this case Common (Mew) Gull is found in North America, Europe and Asia.
Having looked at some of the 'common' birds and their habitats, some are found in forests, which doesn't really sound like common land to me, at least as we know it today.
D
Having looked at some of the 'common' birds and their habitats, some are found in forests, which doesn't really sound like common land to me, at least as we know it today.
D
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