Re: Res: Res: [tied] Latin animals' names -R (rhotacism?)

On 2008-08-15 08:46, dgkilday57 wrote:

> Explanations of <accipiter> as 'fast flier' or 'acceptor' are neither
> formally nor semantically convincing. I prefer haplology from
> *accipitipiter 'headlong faller', the first element being *acceps,
> genitive *accipitis 'with head forward, headlong'. That is the
> remarkable thing about these birds, how rapidly they can plummet to
> the earth head-first.

That's what stooping falcons do, but true hawks (the genus _Accipiter_)
strike from ambush, flying fast but low. I'm not sure to what extent the
Romans confused them.

Piotr