--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> 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.
By Pliny's time, <accipiter> had become about as non-specific as U.S.
English <hawk>, which covers more than twenty species, some belonging
to the genus _Accipiter_, some to _Buteo_. Pliny recognized 16 types
of accipiter, including the buteo and the cybindis (nighthawk), with
various ways of preying on smaller birds (HN X:ix-x).
"Accipitrum genera sedecim invenimus ... triorchem a numero testium,
cui principatum in auguriis Phemonoe dedit. Buteonem hunc appellant
Romani ... Distinctio generum ex aviditate. Alii non nisi e terra
rapiunt avem, alii non nisi circa arbores volitantem, alii sedentem
in sublimi, aliqui volantem in aperto ... In Thraciae parte super
Amphipolim homines et accipitres societate quadam aucupantur
[i.e. 'falconing' - DGK] ... Accipitres avium non edunt corda.
Nocturnus accipiter cybindis vocatur, rarus etiam in silvis, interdiu
minus cernens. Bellum internecivum gerit cum aquila; cohaerentes
saepe prenduntur."
The weakness of my explanation is that I have not found evidence that
<accipiter> ORIGINALLY referred only to headfirst-falling birds of
prey and was later generalized to similar birds. Nevertheless,
the 'fast flier' explanation overlooks the fact that many birds fly
fast, such as the <swift>, which is not hawk-like at all, and
the 'acceptor' explanation could equally well apply to eagles, owls,
and indeed all predatory birds. Both of these also suffer from
phonetic difficulties more severe than a simple haplology.
DGK