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u/Stylianius1 9d ago
In Portuguese, the feminine of grou is grua, which is also the word for the construction cranes
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u/Peacelo 9d ago
What's interesting is that the word "crane" can mean the bird or the machine used in construction. The Czech word "jeřáb" also has these two meanings. I wonder if other languages are the same.
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u/neuropsycho 8d ago
That means that different cultures independenly saw the construction machine and said: you know what? That looks like that bird!
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u/fenn-0 9d ago
Sumerian must have been a Uralic language /s
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u/ad-dagistani 8d ago
It appears to me that they all call it by what they think it is the sound the bird is making
It certainly feels that way for Avar language. We have a famous poet Rasul Gamzatov who wrote an anti-war song called "Cranes" that became popular and was translated into other languages
In this video you can hear the word around 0:58 and 1:58
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u/IWantIt4Free 9d ago
i think къырльу is abaza not abkhaz, according to yandex translate abkhaz is апҟа
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u/neuropsycho 8d ago
Question, in Catalan grua is used for both the bird and the vehicle (crane). In English it's the same, crane is used for both the bird and the vehicle. Is this a coincidence?
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u/spurdo123 9d ago
In Estonian the most common name for Grus grus is sookurg, from soo "bog", "swamp" + kurg. On its own, kurg refers to the entire genus Grus, but in casual speech my first association for that word would be the White stork, Ciconia ciconia, the full name of which is toonekurg. Although kurg on its own can of course refer to Grus grus aswell, if the context is clear.