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- Feb 2024
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bestiary.ca bestiary.ca
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Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 7:26): The pelican [pelicanus] is an Egyptian bird inhabiting the solitary places of the river Nile, whence it takes its name, for Egypt is called canopos. It is reported, if it may be true, that this bird kills its offspring, mourns them for three days, and finally wounds itself and revives its children by sprinkling them with its own blood. - [Barney, Lewis, et. al. translation]
Despite the now commonly accepted etymology of pelican stemming from the Greek pelekys or pelekus meaning "ax", a referent to the bird's large beak, in Etymologies (book 12, 7:26) Isidore of Seville says it "takes its name for Egypt which is called canopos."
question: There is a thing called a canoptic jar (from Egypt), is it possible that trade via these jars caused the ancients to associate Egypt with them, or is there a separate etymology at play?
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