prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2013-07-31 07:12 am

goosander

goosander (goo-SAN-der) - n., the common merganser (Mergus merganser), a fish-eating duck of Europe and North America.


This is a common British name, not used in America. The origin is unknown, and the fact that it was originally (starting in the early 17th century) spelled gossander makes it harder to assume that goose has anything to do with it. (Merganser comes from Latin, meaning diving goose.)

---L.

[identity profile] thistleingrey.livejournal.com 2013-07-31 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
OED2 (1900) cites Poly-Olbion for its first sighting. :P

[identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com 2013-07-31 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
That would be where it picked it up.

---L.