Etymology of some Auks (3 Viewers)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

In this thread I intent to deal with various etymologies connected to some Auks in Alcidae … a somewhat Swedish, or at least (mostly) Nordic, history.

So let´s start with the Auk, the Alca, itself:

Alca
● the Generic name Alca LINNAEUS 1758
= from alk* (or alka) an Old Norse name (from Norway and Iceland, known from Iceland at least pre-1300). Compare with today's álka (in Icelandic), alke (in Norwegian) and (from those) alk (in Danish) for the Razorbill Alca torda.

In Sweden the version alka appears to be commonly used first after Linnaeus's coining of the scientific, Generic name Alca [in his Fauna Svecica 1746, at that time this genus only incl. three species; the Puffin Fratercula arctica, the Great Auk Pinguinus impennis and Razorbill Alca torda].

It is sometimes claimed that Linnaeus learned of this name for the first time in 1744, but during his visit in 1741 to the Island Gotland, in the Baltic Sea, Linnaeus noted regarding today's Razorbill (in his Ölandska och Gothländska Resa 1741, published in 1745, p.286, excerpt attached): "Torderna flögo hastigt och knorrade omkring Båten flere gånger, utan att frukta oss, ... [... ] Denna Fogel är mycket sällsynt i Swerige, och kallas Alca, ..." ("The tord's flew rapidly and murmured round the Boat several times, with no fear of us, ... [... ] This Bird is very rare in Sweden, and is called Alca, ...")

*also the Origin of the English Common name Auk. Compare with the name of the bigger Auk, the extinct (†1844), larger species; Great Auk Pinguinus impennis LINNAEUS 1758.

torda
● in Razorbill Alca torda LINNAEUS 1758 as "Alca Torda" a k a "Razor-billed Auk"
= adopted from the local dialect name; "tord" or "törd" (from the Swedish Island Gotland, East of the Mainland) – meaning "filth" or "dirt" (as from excrements) – probably referring to the stained (or smelly) breeding grounds.

Compare to the similar Swedish name of the "Earth-boring dung beetles" in Geotrupidae which is "Tordyvlar" [the latter part "-yvlar" is the plural form of yvel – in its turn from singular vivel] , which in English would be something like "Filth-bugs" alt. ditto "-beetles".

Carl Linnaeus met the Razorbill for the first time during his travel to Lapland in 1732, on the little Island Bonden, outside Nordmaling, in the Bay of Bothnia, where he noted it was called "tordmule" (i. e. "tord-nose") – which is what this species still is called in Sweden (... and the birds are still present on Bonden!).

Note that today's Razorbill is listed in Skáldskaparmál (the above mentioned pre-1300's source, by the Icelandic historian, poet, and politician Snorre Sturlasson) as being named either alka and/or tyrðilmúli (from torð + múli = the same meaning as above). Also noteworthy is that some linguist's have suggested that the original Islandic alka was intended for the young (black-billed) Razorbills, different from the adult, tyrðilmúli (with white stains, filth, on its beak). One curious (to say the least) "theory" (more of a Folk tale actually) tells us that it got its name "by its excrements dripping from the birds nostrils (!), staining its beak (mule) with white stripes".

Anyone think otherwise?

 

[l_raty]

It is sometimes claimed that Linnaeus learned of this name for the first time in 1744, but during his visit in 1741 to the Island Gotland, in the Baltic Sea, Linnaeus noted regarding today's Razorbill (in his Ölandska och Gothländska Resa 1741, published in 1745, p.286, excerpt attached): "Torderna flögo hastigt och knorrade omkring Båten flere gånger, utan att frukta oss, ... [... ] Denna Fogel är mycket sällsynt i Swerige, och kallas Alca." ("The tord's flew rapidly and murmured round the Boat several times, with no fear of us, ... [... ] This Bird is very rare in Sweden, and is called Alca.")

I would not cut the sentence at this place. It is:

"...and it is called Alca, rostri sulcis quatuor, linea utrinque alba a rostro ad oculos. Anim. Svec. 120;..."
[full text here]

This is undoubtedly a citation from the first ed. of Fauna Svecica (actually "Fauna Svecica sistens animalia Sveciæ Regni": "Swedish Fauna defining the animals of the Kingdom of Sweden"), where Razorbill is #120, and is given word for word the same diagnosis (that of an auk with four farrows on the bill and a white line running from the bill to the eye)... Which is somewhat intriguing, as if we are to trust the dates on title pages, Fauna Svecica (1746) indeed seems to have been published later than Öländska och Gothländska Resa (1745), hence the latter should in theory not include a reference to the former. In any case, this is certainly not something Linnaeus noted in 1741; it must be a later addition to the text.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Well written!

I agree Laurent, I had come to the same conclusion, that The "Anim. Svec." (at least I´ve never heard of, nor seen, any other work abbreviated in that way!?), is most likely Linnaeus's own, first Edition of "Fauna Svecica …", that he was working on simultaneously. Maybe when Linnaeus wrote the first text the title of (what came to be) the "Fauna Svecica …" simply still wasn´t decided? That the latter was going to be published is quite certain, Linnaeus already had that status, but in what order, which certain work that would leave the printing press first, could have been a bit harder to tell. Thereby Linnaeus quoted himself, knowing his work (with whatever title) would be found in the Book shelves of Naturalists …

Although, from a strict Etymology view, this was and is a minor sidetrack, not directly dealing with etymology itself. Linnaeus didn´t mention a word of the meaning (or origin) of Alca.

However; I did express myself a bit awkward (trying to adapt my Swedish MS to Bird Forum's English). Forget the sentence: "It is sometimes claimed that Linnaeus learned of this name for the first time in 1744 …" (by Coues 1868). This is when Linnaeus first used it as a Generic name, in Systema naturæ 1744 … on page 74.

Naturally Linnaeus could have known of the word itself far before either 1741, 1744 or 1745, as the earlier Authors (which he referred to in Fauna Svecica 1746): i. e. Willughby (1676), Worm (1655), etc. etc. all had used the same Alca.

However; the first time Alca appears in a running Swedish text, as clearly a Swedish Word, was in Linnaeus's, just mentioned; Öländska och Gothländska Resa (Travels to Öland and Gotland), two Swedish Provinces, both Islands in the Baltic Sea, a journey made in 1741 (published 1745).

However; I will not bore you with Swedish bibliography, so let´s move on …

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second Auk is the Puffin, also sometimes called Alca (or Auk) in several older books …

Its etymology is more easy and quite obvious:

Fratercula
● the Generic name Fratercula BRISSON 1760
= from Latin fraterculus little/small brother, (diminutive of frater, brother) – meaning "like a little brother" or "kid-brother-ish".

arctica
● in (Common/Atlantic) Puffin Fratercula arctica LINNAEUS 1758 as "Alca arctica" later also "Mormon arcticus"
= Arctic, belongs to the Arctic.

Note:The Common name for Puffin is also noted as Alka or alk in quite a few Nordic works from the 1700's. Noteworthy is also that Pre-1758 Linnaeus himself called the Razorbill "Arctica" (and even "Anas arctica")!
x

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

And the third Auk species …

… is a bit more complicated!

Alle & alle
● in Little auk Alle alle LINNAEUS 1758 as "Alca Alle" (Generic name Alle LINK 1806) a k a " "dovekie"

According to the HBW Alive Key today:

ALLE
(Alcidae; Ϯ Little Auk A. alle) Specific name Alca alle Linnaeus, 1758.

alle
“Allē, the Lapp name of the Long-tailed Duck” (BOU 1915); “Actually alle is a widespread and well-known dialectal name for the Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis. The name is onomatopoeic and, like the first syllable in alfågel (the modern Swedish name), alludes to the beautiful call of the male which is usually transcribed as ‘a-AU-li’ or something similar. Linnaeus, as far as I know, never visited the Baltic coast during the winter or early spring and probably had only heard of the alle at second hand. Presumably he thought that this light-coloured seabird which only occurred in winter was the same as the Little Auk which he ...had only read about. Linnaeus did know of the Long-tailed Duck, but managed to partially confuse it with the Pintail” (Tyrberg in litt.); ex “Mergus melanoleucus” of Willughby 1676, “Small Black and White Diver” of Ray 1713, and Edwards 1747, and “Greenland Dove” or “Sea Turtle” of Albin 1731 (pt.) (Alle).

I actually don´t think (!?) this name has anything at all to do with the Lapp name Allē (for Longtailed Duck Clangula hyemalis LINNAEUS 1758 – today's alfågel in Swedish, both onamatopetic) as is often claimed, but instead a local, dialectal name from the Swedish Island Öland (off South-Eastern Sweden), used for the more closely related Black Guillemot (Uria) Cepphus grylle LINNAEUS 1758.

When Linnaeus stipulated the scientific name of today's Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle (as "Alca Grylle", in his Systema naturæ 1758) he referred to No. 124 in his own Fauna Svecica 1746, where he´d mentioned that the Black Guillemot locally was called "Alle", on the Island Öland.

I would say, at least I assume, that the original local, dialectal "Alle", most likely, is a simple derivation of Alka, in line/similar to/with the Danish Aalge (the Danish language was still, in those days influential, still alive, in Southern Sweden, as narrowing part belonged to Denmark till 1658) … simply meaning an "Auk".

I think Linnaeus in 1758 simply applied this "Alle" (i. e. of the Black Guillemot) to the next-following, closest, species among the Alca's, the "Alca alle" (today's Little Auk Alle alle). Note that Linnaeus had no personal experience of (or Swedish reference to) the Little Auk – simply trusting the "Columba grœnlandica" and "Mergus melanoleucos, rostro … " of earlier Authors. Simply applied as; "another Auk" …

Linnaeus was at that time quite aware of the Long-tailed Duck (No. 96 in his Fauna Svecica 1746 etc. etc.) and I find it unlikely that he would have confused either species [nor, as suggested, with (Northern/Common) Pintail Anas acuta LINNAEUS 1758].

Anyone think otherwise?
x

 

[fugl]

torda
● in Razorbill Alca torda LINNAEUS 1758 as "Alca Torda" a k a "Razor-billed Auk"
= adopted from the local dialect name; "tord" or "törd" (from the Swedish Island Gotland, East of the Mainland) – meaning "filth" or "dirt" (as from excrements) – probably referring to the stained (or smelly) breeding grounds.

Fascinating. The English cognate, of course, is "turd" which the OED labels "vulgar slang" of "Germanic" origin.

 

[njlarsen]

in line/similar to/with the Danish Aalge

Sorry, but being Danish (except for not currently living there, of course), I do not recognize this word?

Niels

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

No wonder, Niels ...

... it´s very old-school Danish, now clearly out-dated, (today replaced by Lomvie and alk) nowaday's it´s only present as the origin of the scientific name for the Common Guillemot/Murre Uria aalge PONTOPPIDAN 1763

We´ll get there soon ...

Although, don´t you agree, that it (in Danish) most likely would have been pronounced quite similar to any equivalent alca/alka/alke (i. e. like "ælge" alt. "ælke" or "äälke")?

Cheers!

 

[njlarsen]

... it´s very old-school Danish, now clearly out-dated, (today replaced by Lomvie and alk) nowaday's it´s only present as the origin of the scientific name for the Common Guillemot/Murre Uria aalge PONTOPPIDAN 1763

We´ll get there soon ...

Although, don´t you agree, that it (in Danish) most likely would have been prenounced quite similar to any equivalent alca/alka/alke (i. e. like "ælge" alt. "ælke")?

Cheers!

I don't know what they would have used for pronunciation that long ago. Today, aa would as you know be å (one of those letters that the English speakers would not know what to do with - but something like "oh" with tiny a sound to it).

Niels

 

[Richard Klim]

Today, aa would as you know be å (one of those letters that the English speakers would not know what to do with - but something like "oh" with tiny a sound to it).

Well, hopefully most regular users of the taxonomy forum have at least attempted to pronounce Fjeldså.

 

[l_raty]

I think Linnaeus in 1758 simply applied this "Alle" (i. e. of the Black Guillemot) to the next-following, closest, species among the Alca's, the "Alca alle" (today's Little Auk Alle alle). Note that Linnaeus had no personal experience of (or Swedish reference to) the Little Auk – simply trusting the "Columba grœnlandica" and "Mergus melanoleucos, rostro … " of earlier Authors. Simply applied as; "another Auk" …

Actually, the Little Auk was somewhat more that just "another Auk" to the Black Guillemot at this time. The one responsible for this situation was Eleazar Albin...

The Columba groenlandica of early authors (the Greenland Dove of Willughby, the Taube of Martens...) was the Black Guillemot. Albin however mixed this terribly with the Little Auk. So, in the first volume of his Natural history of birds (1731), he illustrated a Little Auk, but joined it a text largely inspired from the Greenland Dove account of (as usual for him) Willughby, suggesting that he had illustrated the female of this bird. And (worse), in his second volume (1734), he went on illustrating, undoubtedly without having ever seen one...: the male of this "species"! :eek!: 3
Linnaeus in the first ed. of Fauna Svecica (1746) did not note the problem, and listed Albin's two plates in the synonymy of his account of the Black Guillemot (the one where the Öland name Alle was cited). But then came Edwards (1747), who also illustrated the Little Auk and, in the last paragraph of the text associated to his plate, noted Albin's mistakes. Finally, in Systema Naturae (1758), Linnaeus agreed with Edwards, so he added an account for the Little Auk, with an explicit note reading: "Praecedentis feminam esse statuit Albinus, negant Edwardus & nostrates." ("Albin made this the female of the preceding one, Edwards and ourselves deny it.")...

The result of all this being that for Linnaeus in 1758, and as improbable as this may appear, the Little Auk was "a split" of the Black Guillemot.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

What can I say ...

Like I wrote; "I think ...", but Laurent knows!

Understanding Latin seem like a wonderful thing ...
Suddenly the history behind alle got funny!
Who could have seen that one coming!?

Laurent, I´m glad you´re in "the Crew"!

:t:

PS. Lucky for me Mr. Albin didn´t confuse any Auk with the Long-tailed Duck!
x

 

[Edward]

In this thread I intent to deal with various etymologies connected to some Auks in Alcidae … a somewhat Swedish, or at least (mostly) Nordic, history.

So let´s start with the Auk, the Alca, itself:

Alca
● the Generic name Alca LINNAEUS 1758
= from alk* (or alka) an Old Norse name (from Norway and Iceland, known from Iceland at least pre-1300). Compare with today's álka (in Icelandic), alke (in Norwegian) and (from those) alk (in Danish) for the Razorbill Alca torda.

In Sweden the version alka appears to be commonly used first after Linnaeus's coining of the scientific, Generic name Alca [in his Fauna Svecica 1746, at that time this genus only incl. three species; the Puffin Fratercula arctica, the Great Auk Pinguinus impennis and Razorbill Alca torda].

It is sometimes claimed that Linnaeus learned of this name for the first time in 1744, but during his visit in 1741 to the Island Gotland, in the Baltic Sea, Linnaeus noted regarding today's Razorbill (in his Ölandska och Gothländska Resa 1741, published in 1745, p.286, excerpt attached): "Torderna flögo hastigt och knorrade omkring Båten flere gånger, utan att frukta oss, ... [... ] Denna Fogel är mycket sällsynt i Swerige, och kallas Alca, ..." ("The tord's flew rapidly and murmured round the Boat several times, with no fear of us, ... [... ] This Bird is very rare in Sweden, and is called Alca, ...")

*also the Origin of the English Common name Auk. Compare with the name of the bigger Auk, the extinct (†1844), larger species; Great Auk Pinguinus impennis LINNAEUS 1758.

torda
● in Razorbill Alca torda LINNAEUS 1758 as "Alca Torda" a k a "Razor-billed Auk"
= adopted from the local dialect name; "tord" or "törd" (from the Swedish Island Gotland, East of the Mainland) – meaning "filth" or "dirt" (as from excrements) – probably referring to the stained (or smelly) breeding grounds.

Compare to the similar Swedish name of the "Earth-boring dung beetles" in Geotrupidae which is "Tordyvlar" [the latter part "-yvlar" is the plural form of yvel – in its turn from singular vivel] , which in English would be something like "Filth-bugs" alt. ditto "-beetles".

Carl Linnaeus met the Razorbill for the first time during his travel to Lapland in 1732, on the little Island Bonden, outside Nordmaling, in the Bay of Bothnia, where he noted it was called "tordmule" (i. e. "tord-nose") – which is what this species still is called in Sweden (... and the birds are still present on Bonden!).

Note that today's Razorbill is listed in Skáldskaparmál (the above mentioned pre-1300's source, by the Icelandic historian, poet, and politician Snorre Sturlasson) as being named either alka and/or tyrðilmúli (from torð + múli = the same meaning as above). Also noteworthy is that some linguist's have suggested that the original Islandic alka was intended for the young (black-billed) Razorbills, different from the adult, tyrðilmúli (with white stains, filth, on its beak). One curious (to say the least) "theory" (more of a Folk tale actually) tells us that it got its name "by its excrements dripping from the birds nostrils (!), staining its beak (mule) with white stripes".

Anyone think otherwise?

Fascinating thread. Interested to see the appearence of the word "tyrðil" here. The modern Icelandic name for Alle alle is haftyrðill - my source for the etymology of Icelandic bird names (the book Ísfygla by Sigurður Ægisson) suggests that the "tyrðill" part refers to a "small package" so that haftyrðill means roughly a small bird from the sea (haf = sea).

The Faroese also use the word haftyrðil but for Oceanodroma leucorhoa. Faroese and Icelandic are very closely related languages - we can read each other's language more or less but find it pretty hard to understand each other when speaking. Another false friend in Icelandic and Faroese is óðinshani which refers to Phalaropus lobatus in Icelandic and Turdus iliacus in Faroese.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

The Islandic little "tyrðil" ...

Fascinating thread. Interested to see the appearence of the word "tyrðil" here. The modern Icelandic name for Alle alle is haftyrðill - my source for the etymology of Icelandic bird names (the book Ísfygla by Sigurður Ægisson) suggests that the "tyrðill" part refers to a "small package" so that haftyrðill means roughly a small bird from the sea (haf = sea).

The Faroese also use the word haftyrðil but for Oceanodroma leucorhoa. Faroese and Icelandic are very closely related languages - we can read each other's language more or less but find it pretty hard to understand each other when speaking. Another false friend in Icelandic and Faroese is óðinshani which refers to Phalaropus lobatus in Icelandic and Turdus iliacus in Faroese.

Welcome to the Bird Name Etymology Forum, Edward!

Intersting addition ...

Can the ending -il/-ill, in "tyrðil" alt. "tyrðill" maybe be an Islandic diminutive form of "tyrð"? If so haftyrðill migth, could, maybe (!?); mean something like: A "little Sea lump", an "Atlantic little clod"? (Or in the interpretation suggested by "fugl" in Post No. #5: "Sea turd"! )

And is the Islandic interpretation ha(l)f-tyrðill totally impossible? Is there no doubt that haf in this context surely mean Sea (it´s hav in Swedish, so it sure seem like the most obvious thing ... the reason why I ask is that we in Sweden also have halv, earlier half, for (the size description) half (the latter in English pronounced with, close to, no l, like "haaf", similar to the Islandic haf). Just curious!

Compare with the Swedish name for our beckasiner [From French: bécassine], in English Snipes: Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago vs Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus that earlier was called "enkel beckasin" (Simple Snipe) resp. "halv beckasin" (Half Snipe!). Today they are called enkelbeckasin and dvärgbeckasin (Dwarf Snipe), names that clearly separate them in size ... also from the Great Snipe Gallinago media, which is even more exaggerated; dubbelbeckasin (Double Snipe)!

The same would, could be a possible description of the Little Auk in comparsion to its larger Family members ...

In any case, it seem like the Islandic and Faroese people wasn´t the only ones having trouble keeping track of the various Auks, nor from other (small or large) Pelagic Birds!

We´ll get there soon …

Cheers!

 

[Richard Klim]

Welcome to the Bird Name Etymology Forum, Edward!

Björn, in case you haven't already seen it, I strongly recommend Edward's wonderful 2012 Greenland trip report (including video of the ultimate Alle alle experience), eg...

• www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2516608&postcount=22
• www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2516616&postcount=23
• www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2520328&postcount=43 *****

 

[Paul Clapham]

Björn, here's a list of the birds of Iceland along with their Icelandic names for your edification. I expect you'll find a lot of similarities with Swedish vernacular names.

Iceland bird checklist - Avibase - Bird Checklists of the World

 

[njlarsen]

Compare with the Swedish name for our beckasiner [From French: bécassine], in English Snipes: Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago vs Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus that earlier was called "enkel beckasin" (Simple Snipe) resp. "halv beckasin" (Half Snipe!). Today they are called enkelbeckasin and dvärgbeckasin (Dwarf Snipe), names that clearly separate them in size ... also from the Great Snipe Gallinago media, which is even more exaggerated; dubbelbeckasin (Double Snipe)!

Those are a real pain when a Dane talks with a Swede. In Danish they would be (in order of increasing size): enkeltbekkasin, dobbeltbekkasin, tredaekker. Therefore two names are the same but both refer to a different species across the gap between these otherwise very similar languages.

And sorry for flying out on a tangent here

Niels

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Auk continuation ...

Let´s return to the subject, to the Auks, and the even more tricky ones, the various Guillemots:

We´ll start with the species that Linnaeus was most familiar with, the one already mentioned, todays Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle LINNAEUS 1758 …

Cepphus
● the Generic name Cepphus PALLAS 1769
= from the Greek κεπφος kepphos pale unspecified waterbird, mentioned by Aristotle, Dionysius, et al.

Aristotle gave (in 342 BC) a description of his Cepphus as being a small black and white seabird that flits lightly over the surface of the sea and dips to the water for food (making further determination of which of today's species he intended impossible). It´s been suggested to be either a Storm-petrel, any smaller Gull, some Auk … and even a Gannet (however one could interpret the Gannet as "small")!?

grylle
● in Black Guillemot (Uria/"Grylle") Cepphus grylle LINNAEUS 1758 as "Alca Grylle" a k a "Tystie"
… according to today's HBW Alive Key:

Grylle
(syn. Cepphus Ϯ Black Guillemot C. grylle) Specific name Alca grylle Linnaeus, 1758.

grylle
“This is the dialect name for Black Guillemot on Gotland. On the mainland it was earlier called grissla and nowadays tobisgrissla. Linnaeus almost certainly picked the name up on his visit to Gotland in 1741” (Tyrberg in litt.); ex “Columba groenlandica” of Martens 1675, and Willughby 1676, “Greenland-Dove” or “Sea-Turtle” of Ray 1678: “I perswade myself also, that this is the same with the Turtle-dove of the Bass Island near Edinburgh in Scotland, being thereto induced by the agreement of names”, “Spotted Greenland Dove” of Edwards 1743, and “Colymbus pedibus tridactylis palmatis” of Linnaeus 1746 (Cepphus).

I´m quite sure that my fellow countryman Tommy Tyrberg is correct (in the above) that Linnaeus picked up the name (in connection to the Guillemot) on Gotland 1741 [even if Linnaeus, in his travel report Öländska och Gothländska Resa 1745] originally called it by the other local name Grautle), but the etymology itself is a bit more complex.

In Fauna Svecica 1746 Linnaeus noted that there was two Swedish names for this bird; the first one (here most mentioned as fun-to-know) was Sjö-orre [meaning "Sea-Grouse", today the Swedish name for the Common Scooter Melanitta nigra], and the other name Swedish name (more interesting in this matter) was; Grisla. [today the Swedish name for the Black Guillemot is tobisgrissla]. He'd also noted that the same species was called Grylle and Grautle (Gotlandis, on Gotland) and Alle (Ölandis, on Öland, as mentioned earlier). In total Linnaeus listed five different names for the same Black Guillemot!

The Swedish Grylle (or gryle), in the 1800's it was spelled grylla or gröttla, is simply a derivation of the Old Swedish (nowadays no longer in use) word gryt (in the meaning stones, pebbles, gravel, small rocks )* – and apparently applied to birds found on barren, stony, rocky shores, meaning something like "pebbler" or likewise.

*Not to be confused with the modern (19th Century) Swedish word gryt (though of the same origin!) today meaning: burrow (of an animal) which is often (and quite understandable!) referred to as an explanation of the same grylle, due to the Black Guillemot's (most fittingly) nesting habits (in burrows). The nesting sites of the Black Guillemot's has also, in Swedish, earlier been called, the similar; "gryten" (that would translate to "Gryt's"). Both Grylle and grissla (the latter is the modern Swedish word for any Guillemot) are also claimed to be of the same origin.

Note; that Linnaeus in 1749 (in his Travels from Scania) wrote that today's (Common/Greater) Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula LINNAEUS 1758 was called "Grylle" in Southernmost Scania, Skåne, Sweden! A fact surely pointing away from the "burrow" explanation of the Black Guillemot!

 

[Edward]

And is the Islandic interpretation ha(l)f-tyrðill totally impossible? Is there no doubt that haf in this context surely mean Sea (it´s hav in Swedish, so it sure seem like the most obvious thing ... the reason why I ask is that we in Sweden also have halv, earlier half, for (the size description) half (the latter in English pronounced with, close to, no l, like "haaf", similar to the Islandic haf). Just curious!

Compare with the Swedish name for our beckasiner [From French: bécassine], in English Snipes: Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago vs Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus that earlier was called "enkel beckasin" (Simple Snipe) resp. "halv beckasin" (Half Snipe!). Today they are called enkelbeckasin and dvärgbeckasin (Dwarf Snipe), names that clearly separate them in size ... also from the Great Snipe Gallinago media, which is even more exaggerated; dubbelbeckasin (Double Snipe)!

The same would, could be a possible description of the Little Auk in comparsion to its larger Family members ...

I don't think we can get the meaning "half" from "haf" - it has to mean "sea."

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Thanks Edward!

I don't think we can get the meaning "half" from "haf" - it has to mean "sea."

I expected that! But I had to ask ... simply as a long-shot.

The tyrðill: Case closed!

Cheers!

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

More Guillemots

And now it´s time for the even more mixed-up and confusing Guillemots … or Murres!

Uria
● the Generic name Uria BRISSON 1760
= (here simply trusting the HBW Alive Key) from the Greek ουρια ouria, an unspecified waterfowl mentioned by the Greek Author and rhetorician Athenaeus (Athēnaios Naukratitēs, Ἀθήναιο or Athenaios).

In one translation of Athenaeus's work: "And the kind called uria are not much smaller than the duck, but as to its plumage it is of a dirty earthenware colour, and it has a long and narrow beak."

aalge
● in Common Murre Uria aalge PONTOPPIDAN* 1763 as "Colymbus Aalge" a k a "Thin-billed Murre" alt. "Common Guillemot" or simply "Guillemot"
= from the now out-dated Danish name Aalge (their version of Alca). Nowadays the Danish name for this Auk is Lomvie.

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*Erik Pontoppidan (1698–1764) was Danish. When coining this name in his "Danske Atlas" 1763 (i. e. Den danske atlas eller konge-riget Dannemark, med dets naturlige egenskaber, elementer, indbyggere, vaexter, dyr og andre affodninger, dets gamle tildrageiser of naervaerene omstaendigheder i alle provintzer, staeder, kirker, slotte of herregaarde) he covered just about every subject in Denmark, incl. some Flora and Fauna – the text of "Aalge" (here) and the Plate (here). Pontoppidan also noted the same bird (pre-1758) in 1752-53, as "langivie" in his Det første forsøg paa Norges naturlige historie … ("The First attempt on the Natural History of Norway" (here), in English translation 1755; The natural history of Norway … (here)

PS. Although, I must add, I don´t understand why the Type location is claimed to be "Iceland" …?!?

The whole chapter "Om Land- og Wand-Fuglene i Dannemark" (here) ["On Land- and Water-bird in Denmark"] where Pontoppidan coined and established this name is, as far as I understand, all of birds found in Denmark. The Plate is even marked "Aves Danicæ …" (Danish Birds ..."). The Original description of aalge (as "Aalge") on p.621 (above) tells us – and here we might need some help of our Danish friends with its true meaning (and those awkward Fraktur letters): "?om og ?alder i Jisland" … that I understand mean something like "also present (?) in Iceland" …!?

Or, if Old style Danish is too hard, see the German Short Edition (here), and p.169 (here) where it is stated: "fällt auch in Island" ("also brought down on Iceland").

Doesn´t this indicate that Pontoppidan's aalge itself was from Denmark?
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