Etymology
Its English name refers to the bright red bead-like tips of the secondary feathers on its wings, which look like drops of sealing wax, while 'Bohemian' refers to the Romani (gypsies), with a comparison to this bird's wandering, or to its (presumed) origin from Bohemia (at the time, a relatively unknown "distant, eastern" place to most English speakers).
The generic name Bombycilla, from Latin Bombyx (silk / silk moth) + Scientific Latin cilla (tail), is a direct translation of the Swedish name 'Sidensvans', silk-tail, and refers to the silky-soft plumage of the bird; the species name garrulus means 'talkative' and refers to a resemblance to the European Jay, Glandularius garrulus,.
Read more about this topic: Bohemian Waxwing
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)