BIRDS sing, soar and twitch through our landscapes, lives and language. They were probably among the first animals the first humans really noticed and, after noticing, always comes naming. As Susan Myers describes in The Bird Name Book: A History of English Bird Names (Princeton University Press, £30), their names can come from their appearance (raven), behaviour (dipper), diet (chaffinch), habitat (moorhen), other languages (kiwi), geographical origin (pheasant) or similarities (American robin) and some are named for several characteristics at once. Names vary within and between countries and others were long applied indiscriminately. Scientific nomenclature is itself often romantic, as with the rhea, named after the daughter of Gaia and Uranus, alluding to the flightless bird’s confinement to earth.
The hypothesised three millennia-old proto-Indo-European language contains a word, ghans, that means goose. As are other bird names—cuckoo, hoopoe, rook and turtle dove—ghans is probably onomatopoeic, inspired by the goose’s call. By the 10th century, ghans had become grœde in the Exeter Book, a foundational text of English literature—helping launch geese into folklore, metaphor, proverb and slang as a symbol of foolishness, good eating and the onset of winter.
By 1382, when Geoffrey Chaucer penned Parlement of Foules, birds of many kinds had alighted in every branch of national life, a source of fascination and joy: ‘On every bough the briddes herde I singe,/With voys of aungel in her armonye.’
Sparrow
Denne historien er fra January 11, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra January 11, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
