LL-L "Etymology" 2011.05.31 (05) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 31 May 2011 - Volume 05
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: Etymology


Dear Lowlanders,


Just now that I watched a couple of hummingbirds bobbing about the
blossom-laden tree outside the window across from my desk, another
linguistic query popped up in my mind.

English seems to stand out among the West Germanic languages, nay, possibly
*all* Germanic languages, in that it has coined its own word for the
hummingbird. Related languages have derivatives of the French word *colibri*,
which spread through Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries after having been
brought from the Lesser Antilles. The actual origin of the word is unknown,
but we ought to assume that it had been encountered in an indigenous
language of the Lesser Antilles at the time.

Latin: Trochilidae
English: hummingbird
German: Kolibri
Low Saxon (DE): Kolibri (?)
Low Saxon (NL): kolibrie (?)
Dutch: kolibrie
Danish: kolibri
Norwegian: kolibri
Swedish: kolibri
Icelandic: kólibrí

What about Frisian and Scots?

The *colibri* thread continues through most other Old World languages.
Exceptions are Spanish *picaflores* ("flower-stinger", besides *colibrí*),*
*Portuguese *beijaflor* ("flower-kisser", besides *colibri *and* cuitelo*)
and Turkish *sinek kuşu* ("fly bird").

In non-European languages with European bases there is for instance *zwazo
mouch* ("fly bird") in Haitian Creole.

Indigenous American languages tend to have their own, natively constructed
words for the same, obviously because the speakers of these languages were
familiar with hummingbird -- just as I am sitting here in North America
where hummingbirds perform in front of a linguist's window.

Languages that tend to be resistant to lexical importation create their own
words; e.g. Vietnamese *chim ruồi* ("fly bird", cf. Turkish and Haitian
Creole above), Chinese 蜂鳥 (Mandarin *fēngniǎo*, "bee bird") and Japaneseハチドリ (
*hachidori* < 蜂鳥 **hachitori* "bee bird").

Can any of you enlighten us further?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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