godwit

Dec. 15th, 2015 07:45 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
godwit (GOD-wit) - n., any of four species of large, wading shorebirds (genus Limosa) of northern and arctic regions.


Another game bird, though not as much now as formerly. Also called, in almost obsolete English dialect, yarwhelp. Per Wikipedia, "[t]hey can be distinguished from the curlews by their straight or slightly upturned bills, and from the dowitchers by their longer legs," which I'm sure will help you in your travels. Frankly, I can't tell a curlew from a sandpiper, and probably not these either. Name has been in use since Old English, where the first part is cognate to good, and the second to white, though exactly how to interpret that is a bit obscure to me.

---L.

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