Shoot the Messager? How the Secretarybird Sagittarius serpentarius got its names (mostly wrong)
Research into the etymology of various names for the Secretarybird Sagittarius serpentarius reveals a comedy of errors from Vosmaer, his French translator, Buffon, Sonnerat, and Miller to Fry. The research suggests that the name Sagittarius resulted from a misunderstanding
in Holland and that Buffon introduced the name Messager in error. The Arabic root proposed for the name by Fry in 1977 is historically implausible and linguistically illogical.
Keywords: Buffon; Secretarybird; Vosmaer; ornithological etymology
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Publication date: 03 July 2018
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