On the Greek Bird-Name ∑єλєυκίς

Extract

Al-Kazwīnī, in the Nuzhat, gives sagharjih, , as the “ mongolian ” equivalent of Al-zurzur, the starling: and in the last number of this Bulletin (VI, p. 575), M. Paul Pelliot discusses the Mongolian word. He cites (quoting M. N. N. Poppe) Osm. sqrča, also sīyīrjiq, čuvaš sïngïrč (both ═ “ starling ”), etc., and suggests that Al-Kazwīnī's Mongolian word should read sïyïrča, or siyërja, and be looked on as “ un emprunt au turc ”. To these forms we may add Turki zákarči, which Sir E. Denison Ross mentions in his Polyglot List (Mem. As. Soc. Bengal, 1909, p. 297).