Saturday, August 2, 2014

Bird Name Origins in English: Cormorant




Cormorant:

"In early medieval times the cormorant was named 'sea raven' --that is, in Latin, corvus marinus. This passed into Old French first as cormareng, which later became cormaran. English adopted it and added a final t. The word's origins are still evident in Portuguese corvo marinho 'cormorant.'"


Resource:
Ayto, John., Dictionary of Word Origins (New York, 1990)

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