Turkic etymological background of the English bird name terek ‘Tringa cinereus’

Abstract

This paper deals with the Turkic background of the English ornithonym terek ‘Tringa cinereus’. Despite a large number of works devoted to different aspects of bird names, the origin of the English ornithonym terek or terek sandpiper ‘Tringa cinereus’ has not been studied sufficiently. The English name of the bird terek originates from the name of the Terek river in the Caucasus, which, in turn, is a Turkic word meaning ‘tree’ and ‘poplar’. The etymology of the word terek is expounded along the lines of linguistic, historical and geographical data as well as the role of mythology.