Björn Bergenholtz
(former alias "Calalp")
As I'm somewhat stuck on this (scientific) name, here's a few simple questions (though somewhat trickier to answer) regarding ...
alchata as in:
● the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse Pterocles alchata LINNAEUS 1766 (here), as "[Tetrao] Alchata", no obvious, outspoken explanation, only several reference to earlier Works by other (pre-Linnaean/pre-1758) Authors, incl:
So, what's the meaning (and Origin) of Linnaeus's "Alchata"?
In today's Key to Scientific Names (as well as it was in the old, now defunct, HBW Alive Key, per March 2020) this name is (and was) explained as:
But ... did Cuvier, in this/his (far later) French text, say that this was the Arab name of the Bird itself, or ... ?!?
The reason why I'm a bit puzzled are the two (!) Richmond cards (here, and here), telling us:
Well, which is it? Is it an Autochthonym, an Arabic [or/alt. even (also?) Turkish] onomatopoeia, or is it a Toponym?
Which one is truly correct is unknown to me. Without understanding neither Latin nor French it's pretty hard to tell (or even guess) ....
To me, this far, it does look like an Autochthonym (a name based on a local Arab name), but I cannot help wondering; why would the Richmond crew point towards an "Alchata-Steppe" ... ?!? It's quite a decisive, contrary claim (or counterbid), against the other, older texts. Or could this/their explanation, if such a place exist, possibly, plausibly be from (a/the) "Steppe" of the Al chata/s ... ?
Either way, if or such a "Steppe" does exist (with such, or a similar, name), or wherever that "Steppe" could be located, or might have been located, is equally unknown to me ... (I've never heard of such a place, before reading those two Richmond cards).
Is there anyone who can enlightening me?
On/In any part of the above ...
Björn
PS. I assume it has nothing to do with the Country/Emirate/State قطر Qaṭar (as of here). Or is this the (very Origin of the) alleged "Alchata-Steppe", the Al qata(r) desert?
PPS. Just to make it clear (for everyone), re. the Key's quote. Note that Linnaeus himself, of course, didn't quote Latham 1783 [simply as he couldn't have read anything from that particular year (Linnaeus died in 1778)].
/B
*I have no idea of where the Plate/Tabula (No. "307") could be found!? Probably it's this one (in the Appendix), where we find the following Phrase (in the text below): "... apud Arabes scriptores alchata, uel alfuachat, & filacotona nominatur; ..."
alchata as in:
● the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse Pterocles alchata LINNAEUS 1766 (here), as "[Tetrao] Alchata", no obvious, outspoken explanation, only several reference to earlier Works by other (pre-Linnaean/pre-1758) Authors, incl:
• "Alchata ſ. Filacotona" [ſ. = s./sive/or/alt.], as of "Geſn. av. 311, t. 307" [i.e. Conrad Gesner's/Gessner's Aves, in Historiæ animalium (liber III qui est de auium natura ...), page 311, tabula/Plate 307, from 1555) = here* (all in Latin)]
• "Aldr. orn. 2. p.148, 501" [i.e. Ulyssis Aldrovandi's Ornithologiae (est de avibus historiae), vol. II, from 1637) = here, and here: "DE ALCHATA, ..." (all in Latin)]
• "Chartet. [sic] onom. 77. t. 77" [i.e. Walter Charleton's (alt. in Latin; Charletono's) Onomasticon zoicon(plerorumque animalium differentias & nomina propria pluribus linguis exponens), from 1668) = here (all in Latin), and Plate here (actually a very nice one, for that Era!)]
• "Edw. av. 84. t. 249" [i.e. George Edwards's Aves, more properly titled: Gleanings of Natural History (exhibiting figures of Quadrupeds, Birds, Insects, Plants &c., most of which have not, till now, been either figured or described : with descriptions of seventy different subjects), from '1758'] = here; "The Little Pin-tailed Grous." [sic], (with Plate on the next-following page):
• "Ruſſel. alep. 64. t. 9" [i.e. Alexander Russel's The Natural History of Aleppo (in Syria) from 1756] = here:
... and the final one:
• "Bonaſia pyrenaica. Briſſ. av. I. p. 195. t. 19" [i.e. Mathurin Jacques Brisson's Ornithologie (ou méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés), from 1760)] = here (all in French), and Plate here.
So, what's the meaning (and Origin) of Linnaeus's "Alchata"?
In today's Key to Scientific Names (as well as it was in the old, now defunct, HBW Alive Key, per March 2020) this name is (and was) explained as:
... which, to me (with my meager understanding of Latin) looks fully correct, all in line with what's claimed by Cuvier, in 1836 [here]:
But ... did Cuvier, in this/his (far later) French text, say that this was the Arab name of the Bird itself, or ... ?!?
The reason why I'm a bit puzzled are the two (!) Richmond cards (here, and here), telling us:
Well, which is it? Is it an Autochthonym, an Arabic [or/alt. even (also?) Turkish] onomatopoeia, or is it a Toponym?
Which one is truly correct is unknown to me. Without understanding neither Latin nor French it's pretty hard to tell (or even guess) ....
To me, this far, it does look like an Autochthonym (a name based on a local Arab name), but I cannot help wondering; why would the Richmond crew point towards an "Alchata-Steppe" ... ?!? It's quite a decisive, contrary claim (or counterbid), against the other, older texts. Or could this/their explanation, if such a place exist, possibly, plausibly be from (a/the) "Steppe" of the Al chata/s ... ?
Either way, if or such a "Steppe" does exist (with such, or a similar, name), or wherever that "Steppe" could be located, or might have been located, is equally unknown to me ... (I've never heard of such a place, before reading those two Richmond cards).
Is there anyone who can enlightening me?
On/In any part of the above ...
Björn
PS. I assume it has nothing to do with the Country/Emirate/State قطر Qaṭar (as of here). Or is this the (very Origin of the) alleged "Alchata-Steppe", the Al qata(r) desert?
PPS. Just to make it clear (for everyone), re. the Key's quote. Note that Linnaeus himself, of course, didn't quote Latham 1783 [simply as he couldn't have read anything from that particular year (Linnaeus died in 1778)].
/B
*I have no idea of where the Plate/Tabula (No. "307") could be found!? Probably it's this one (in the Appendix), where we find the following Phrase (in the text below): "... apud Arabes scriptores alchata, uel alfuachat, & filacotona nominatur; ..."
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