pelecanus

Forms

pelecānus m (genitive pelecānī); second declension^[1] Also spelled pelicānus, the head Georges and Conte use,^[2][3] and in manuscripts pellicanus and peleg- or pelig-.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán, “pelican”);^[5][1][3] the Latin forms arose from the Greek oblique cases.^[4] Beekes derives the Greek word from πέλεκυς (pélekus, “axe”), from the bird's likeness to an axe.^[6]

Isidore of Seville took the name from Canopus, his name for Egypt, where the bird lived by the Nile.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Jerome (c. 383–419/420 AD), commenting on Psalm 101, who distinguishes two kinds of the bird, one living on water and eating fish, the other in the desert eating snakes, and says that in Latin they are called onocrotali.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The Vulgate has it in Psalm 101:7, and the Christian commentators on that verse made it a familiar bird.^[5][4] Isidore repeats the story that it kills its young, mourns them for three days and then revives them with its own blood.^[7] In British Medieval Latin it is the pelican, often with reference to the psalm, and also a picture of a pelican;^[9] Alexander Neckam explains the name from its skin, which seems to “sing” when handled.^[9] Old English borrowed it as pellican,^[10][1] and Italian pellicano comes from the Late Latin form.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome describes two kinds of the bird in his commentary on Psalm 101.^[4][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Psalm 101:7.^[5][8]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville tells how it revives its young with its blood.^[7][8]
• 11th century – An Old English glossary equates it with stangella.^[9][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pelican.^[5][2][11]
2. (Medieval Latin) A picture or figure of a pelican.^[9]

Related words

• onocrotalus
• English pelican

Usage notes

Du Cange records a medieval pelecanus meaning a tanner, glossed with the Italian pelacane;^[12] Köbler connects it, with a query, with pellis.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
12. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre