A Nightingale by any other name: cultural trends in English folknames of passerine birds

The etymologist, Michel Desfayes, collated c.100,000 European folk-names of birds across 11 languages, mostly from diverse published sources, and analysed their linguistic roots. Of these, c.7,000 English names refer to the British avifauna. Many of these were published in The Zoologist around the mid-19^th century. This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of 3,297 such names covering 78 English passerine birds. The names reflect appearance, size, voice, behaviour, flight, nesting biology, place, habitat, seasonality etc. and indicate an intimate knowledge of birds. The names are phenetic, contextual and quasi-systematic in structure. Familiar species are referenced iconically in the naming of less familiar species. But they also indicate an affection for the birds, and suggest that particular forms of name, especially of the most familiar and iconic species were intended to aid children’s’ learning of their birds. The significance of this to present cultural trends will be briefly explored.