[Nhcoll-l] common English name

Thu Oct 27 12:12:46 EDT 2022

Hi Gali,

I am an ornithologist (technically an avian ecologist) and nomenclature and taxonomy are my special interests! You have touched on the taxonomist's ultimate question, "What's in a name?" I can go on about this for some time, but I will try to keep my response brief and not get into the weeds too much.

You are correct - in English, the word "owl" only refers to birds in the order Strigiformes. If there is a word in English that includes all nocturnally hunting birds, I am not aware of it - but it does not surprise me that other languages do.

A language is built and evolves according to the speakers' needs and their culture, environment, and interactions with other cultures - so common names for living things tend to be only as specific and useful as they need to be. In Hebrew speaking places, there may not have been a need or reason to distinguish between owls and other nocturnally active birds like nightjars (Caprimulgiformes), so separate terms never made it into common use, and newer names from other languages were never adopted. Also, scientific classification and Latin names themselves are only about three hundred years old, so if the common language that one is speaking has been in active use longer than that, it's not surprising that the Latin classification doesn't match up with it.

I think most laypeople can easily recognize the difference between owls and other nocturnal birds of prey, but as Wendy said, this "lumping" of superficially similar species together does happen quite often. One English term that comes to mind is "buzzard". To a layperson this means literally any hawk-like bird that soars, and includes New World vultures - which are not hawks at all. To an ornithologist however, buzzard only refers to species in the Buteo genus! So laypersons and biologists are using this term differently.

This is why common names are a notorious headache for taxonomists. They vary wildly even within a single language, and it's often geographically based. We have a snake here in the US that is variably called black snake, oak snake, chicken snake etc. depending on where in the country you are. They all refer to Pantherophis alleghaniensis. However, "black snake" might also mean Lampropeltis getula or Coluber constrictor! These three species look enough alike that most laypeople won't be able to distinguish them. However, to a layperson, having a more specific name for them doesn't ultimately matter, as they are all harmless and helpful predators that provide the same ecological service.

To a taxonomist, distinguishing them down to species adds a layer of understanding about their ecology and natural history - details that laypeople don't really need to know in order to go about their day. The concept of a "species" is itself arbitrary and made-up by humans to help us make sense of the natural world. Our method of classification has varied as our knowledge and technology has developed, and so the names have changed according to their usefulness.

This is more succinctly captured in the book Alice in Wonderland, in which the titular character has a conversation with a gnat. The gnat asks "What's the use of their having names, if they don't answer to them?" to which Alice answers, "No use to them, but it's useful to the people that name them, I suppose."

What is the literal translation of Dorsei laila? I plugged this phonetic version into Google translate and it was smart enough to give me the words in Hebrew script, which it then translated as "Night raptors". Is this accurate? Is it perhaps "night hunters"? I think a more general term like this would be more useful since it sounds like there is no concept for "owl" in Hebrew.

Finally, to comment on your question about labeling - I would use whatever common term is correct in the language(s) being used, as this will be understood, but also use Latin names alongside them. As Danae recommended, if English is being used in addition to Hebrew on the labels, I would not use the English word "owl" to refer to something that is not in Strigiformes.

I hope this was helpful!

Erin

Erin B. Cashion | Curator of Natural History
Ohio History Connection | 800 East 17th Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43211
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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Frier, Danae PCS
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2022 11:54 AM
To: Wendy Beins <wendybeins at gmail.com>; Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>
Cc: NHCOLL-new <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] common English name

Hello all,

I think the key here is the term "birds of prey", as it typically would refer exclusively to raptors (owls, hawks, falcons, etc). While nighthawks are nocturnal predators, since they are taxonomically different from raptors, they wouldn't be considered a bird of prey. I believe owls are the only bird of prey that are nocturnal, so "owl" might be an appropriate English translation if the Hebrew term is also referring only to raptors and not all avian predators. However, it would also be important to know that not all owls are nocturnal - many are active during the day or at dawn/dusk, i.e. all nocturnal birds of prey are owls, but not all owls are nocturnal birds of prey.

Note that I wouldn't technically consider myself  an ornithologist, and there may be exceptions to the above that I'm not aware of - but I think it applies generally.

Regardless, I think Wendy's last sentence is the best advice - "Don't use the word owl on a display label to refer to animals that are not owls."

Cheers,
Danae

Danae Frier (she/her)
Curatorial Assistant - Vertebrate Zoology

Royal Saskatchewan Museum
2340 Albert St., Regina, Saskatchewan  S4P 2V7
P: (306) 787-4852

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Wendy Beins
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2022 6:52 AM
To: Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il<mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>>
Cc: NHCOLL-new <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] common English name

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Gali~
Also not an ornithologist so I don't know the common English term for all nocturnal birds (if one exists), but I think lay people calling all nocturnal birds "owls" to be on par with lay people calling all fossils "dinosaurs".  It is incredibly incorrect and not something museums should be perpetuating.  Although I now work in museum administration, my education background is vert paleo collections and research based and so when I'm working guest experience and someone refers to a non-dinosaur fossil as a dinosaur I will correct them every time.
I know this didn't really answer your question other than please don't use the word "owl" on a display label to refer to animals that are not owls.

~~Wendy Beins

On Thu, Oct 27, 2022 at 2:35 AM Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il<mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>> wrote:
Dear All,

Just checking something that became a point of curiosity for me: I am not an ornithologist, I'm a conservator, so was quite surprised to learn recently something that sounded extremely strange to me. Maybe the bird specialists here can confirm it (or not):

In a discussion on common-language English translation for a term in Hebrew covering all night-time birds of prey ("Dorsei laila", for those of you curious to know some Hebrew!), I was told that the commonly used English-language term to this end was "Owls".

That surprised me very much, since I always thought that this word only referred to true owls (Strigiformes) and did not cover other nightly predators such as nighthawks. Does the term "owl" indeed refer to all nocturnal birds of prey? On a display label, which term would correctly describe all nocturnal birds of prey (owls/nocturnal raptors/nocturnal birds of prey)? This sort of piques my mind and I would be glad to hear your thoughts!

Thanks,

Gali

--
[https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR)
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National Natural History Collections
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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