There haven’t been many spring migrants (birds) around in Northants so far. I still haven’t seen anything more than Chiffchaffs and a few Sand Martins – but then I’m not out all the time.
But the Chiffchaffs are singing in lots of places. Their song cuts through the air and delivers the message that spring has come (even if it doesn’t feel like it) or is soon going to be wrapping us all up in warmth, bird song, buzziness of insects and a few flowers too.
I happened to be out with someone from Poland a few days ago and I pointed out the Chiffchaff song to her and she asked whether they had that bird in Poland. I said (never having been to Poland) that I was pretty sure that they did and she looked it up and told me its name in Polish; Pierwiosnek zwyczajny!
Well, you try pronouncing that!
The name, I was told, means something like ‘early spring’ which works rather well with the bird’s early arrival. I felt a little ashamed of our onomatopoeic name. So I checked on the BTO website what other languages call their Chiffchaffs. We aren’t alone in naming them after their song, are we? Siff-saff! Zilpzalp! Tjiftjaf! Tiuf-Teaf! They are calling all over Europe now.
In Norway and Sweden does the name mean ‘Spruce singer’? It looks as though it might. And the French call it a ‘Swift warbler’ apparently. Is that because it comes back quickly in spring? Or because it sings quickly? Or have I got that all wrong?
By the way, it looks as though the Polish name might refer to the Primrose – a plant that in these parts flowers when the Chiffchaff sings.
I’m just playing with some online translations here – if anyone knows more about these bird names and would like to share their knowledge then I, for one, would be keen to learn more.
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Mosquitero Común in Spanish, which if you take the literal translation means the Common Mosquito Net. Many small warblers in Spanish are Mosquiteros, basically small fly catchers (not to be confused with the Flycatchers!) would be the sensible translation. Singing Mosquito nets? Take that idea to Dragon’s Den, you could make a fortune. Probably.
Yes, the Gran in Gransanger = spruce.
In Ireland, there’s Sally Picker. Perhaps that’s from the bird foraging in willows (Salix) which are now flowering.
My copy of The Provincial Names of British Birds by the Rev Charles Swainson (1885) gives Sally Picker as an Irish name for the species and endorses your suggestion that the ‘Sally’ part is a reference too Sallows, Murray. The name is (or perhaps was) apparently also used for Willow Warbler too. Other names given in this book for Chiff chaff are ‘Bank bottle’ (or jug) based on its nest (a Bedfordshire name apparently – I wonder if it’s ever used in the Lodge?), Thummie and Lesser petty-chaps, Peggy (West Riding)and Chip Chop.
Jonathan – brilliant.
Thanks for that Johnathan. Yes of course, Sally must be from the word Sallow. Interesting book yours. Francesca Greenoak in her All the Birds of the Air (1979) quotes those names you’ve given and some others:
Re. the nest – Wood Oven; Feather Poke and Feather Bed.
Re. the bird – Least Whitethroat.
And back whenever, the greater the number of nectaring insects amongst the Sally flowers the greater the amount song there would have been. It’s likely things are a lot quieter today, even with those species whose numbers are still holding up.
willwarb blackcap sub alp redstart yellow wag & white wag w oliv on the move through here in The Gambia – no hirundines
The scientific name collybita means money counter, as the song sounds like someone counting coins one by one off a table.
Tim – thank you, I hadn’t spotted that. Not only can you wield a camera, you are a fount of knowledge too.
The name of Chiffchaff in Welsh is Yr Aderyn Bach Melyn which I believe translates as little yellow bird, whereas Willow Warbler is Dryw’r Helyg which means Willow Wren.
“And the French call it a ‘Swift warbler’ apparently. Is that because it comes back quickly in spring? Or because it sings quickly? Or have I got that all wrong?”
It is suggested in the French version of Wikipedia that the colloquial name is due to “its great agility and its very rapid movements in the foliage which sometimes render it difficult to observe”.
Jonathan – merci
Pouillot is a diminutive word, derived from poule (= hen. I suspect that in old french, it was a generic word referred to any small bird and that given it is a frequently encountered species, probably acquired its name early on in the derivation of the French language. Véloce means ‘agile’ (as opposed to swift, which would be ‘rapide’). So the French translation in my opinion would be ‘an agile little bird’ – a reflection of the way it flits around trees.
Why the French haven’t adopted an onomatopoeic name for it, Je ne sais pas (with Gallic shrug).
R.
In Portuguese it is felosa-comum or common warbler. It is indeed a common and abundant wintering species in the Algarve but they don’t sing very much, which I assume accounts for such a mundane, non-onomatopoeic name.
Incroyable! I bet they do have well used onomatopoeic names for the this song across many of their culturally diverse landscapes. It’s just that the French remain delightfully foreign to us and our search engines are not up to speed. We need a French book on provincial bird names. Or we need to just wander off piste in France and talk with the locals.
I have never heard it used myself but apparently the chiff-chaff is sometimes known in France as “compteur d’écus” which means money counter (écu being a long obsolete type of coin). Exactly as Tim explains above with respect to the scientific name collybita, this refers to the supposed resemblance of the song to coins being counted one by one.
“Compteur d’ecus” — it gets better and better.
It is interesting that Primrose, which you mentioned, in Polish language is also Pierwiosnek, exactly the same as Chiffchaff.