Re: [dinosaur] Xunmenglong, new compsognathid theropod from Lower Cretaceous of China

[Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com>]

David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> wrote:

> That's not a hypothesis, that's an observed fact: the great auk is called 
> pingouin in French, where the penguins are called manchot

I had thought it was more complicated than that.  True, "pingouin" is
the French scientific word for auks e.g., le grand pingouin (the great
auk) and le petit pingouin (razorbill).  I had read somewhere that the
word "manchot" was introduced by the 18th century French naturalist
Georges-Louis Leclerc (Comte de Buffon) in a conscious effort to
differentiate penguins from auks.  (Apparently, "manchot" means
someone with no hands.)

However, "pingouin" persists in French as an informal name for
penguins - such as the movie "Penguins of Madagascar", which was
translated into French as "Les Pingouins de Madagascar".  Perhaps not
the best example; but although the distinction between "pingouin" vs
"manchot" is clear in French ornithological circles, it's not as clear
in vernacular French (including pop culture).

> In Welsh, Cornish and Breton, pen gwynn (and variants) literally means "white 
> head" and was applied to one of the capes the great auks covered in guano.

Or because of the white spot on the great auk's head?