Talk:Pauxi

Etymology - Mayan

– Eastern Mayan – Greater Mamean – Mamean – Mam = paẍa [paşa] hence Spanish n, pajuil . https://livingdictionaries.app/mam/entries/list Unless it is a loanword in Mayan.Checklist : Neighbouring languages Flāvidus (talk) 02:37, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

@Flāvidus: the big problem with that scenario is that these are South American birds. The name was published by Linnaeus in 1766 here. He writes "habitat in Mexico", but that's an error. He cites a work by Francisco Hernández, which is probably the source of the name. Oddly enough, although Francisco Hernández's expedition went to Mexico, he apparently visited Margarita Island along the way and encountered the bird there. I found a reference that confirms this, then goes on to say that "Pauci es diminutivo antiguo de pavo." The first syllable certainly seems plausible, but it's not obvious to me where the last syllable came from. Maybe @Nicodene can fill in the gaps. Chuck Entz (talk) 06:31, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

To the best of my knowledge, there has been no such diminutive ending as -xi in the entire history of Spanish. It is certainly a borrowing from one of the indigenous languages of the Americas, presumably one spoken within the historical range of the actual bird. Nicodene (talk) 07:47, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

@Chuck Entz: Thank you for your feedback. It is amazing; You're very resourceful. and certainly well deserved admin.

I am very glad to hear your interest in (ethnobiology, ethnozoology and ethnobotany) Please take a look at this ( this phenomenon isn't limited to Turkish or to this example ) eider in Turkish on Wikpedia pufla > eider This is a fantastic name. Because it refers to the down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, which are used to fill pillows and quilts, which isn't a professional attitude to create a taxonomy by referring to its commercial use. I can only guess that one day (after the age of information overload :) ) a translator or a botanist single-handedly came up with this name. There must be a better way to create neologisms for non native species, plants etc, and there is one. Which is the opinion of people like you who can say one or two things about etymology. Can this be a Wikimedia project where such things are incubated and discussed by people qualified ? Flāvidus (talk) 21:51, 11 September 2022 (UTC)