Re: "raptor" definition

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

>A few days ago, a subscriber to this list mentioned that "raptor" meant
>"bird of prey".  I was always under the impression that it meant "robber"
>or "stealer".  This is correct, isn't it ?
>
>Sorry for sounding so trivial, but it got me wondering...

In English, "raptor" has (until Jurassic Park) refered only to birds of
prey.  In the original Latin, raptor means:
robber, theif, snatcher, rapist (the English cognate of raptor), beseiger &
plunderer

since "rapere" means

to rob, to steal, to snatch, to rape, to beseige & to plunder.

Since the first dinosaurian "raptors" (Ovi- and Veloci-, back in the
1920s), the name has been used for relatively small theropods with
"grabbing" hands.

The Greek equivalent of "raptor", "lestes", shows up in the dinosaur
Ornitholestes, and countless Mesozoic and Paleogene mammal names.

                                
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                                   
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Vertebrate Paleontologist                           Phone:      703-648-5280
U.S. Geological Survey                                FAX:      703-648-5420
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092
U.S.A.