The names and naming of gannets comprising the genus Morus (family Sulidae)

Abstract

The gannet species found in the northern hemisphere can be fully identified as the Northern Gannet Morus bassanus in the family Sulidae. This full identity reveals four historical themes which intertwine to produce a number of historical and current names for both the Northern Gannet and the Cape Gannet Morus capensis. These four themes are (1) the ‘goose’ theme, which traces the word ‘goose’ back to its Sanskrit origin hainsas, and which over centuries has spawned linguistically related words like gander, gannet and the erstwhile Latin family name Anseridae; (2) the ‘sula’ theme, which traces the echoes of the Old Norse word súla ‘gannet’, giving a number of names for the Northern Gannet in various European languages, as well as the family name Sulidae; (3) the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth in Scotland, associated with the Northern Gannet for centuries and responsible for the specific epithet bassanus; and (4) notions of various seabirds being foolish or silly, leading to the generic name Morus, and various names for seabirds such as the current Afrikaans malgas (Cape Gannet) and the historical mallemuck, and variants for various species of albatross. In this diachronic review of these four themes, a special look is taken of names for the Cape Gannet as recorded in the ships’ logs of early mariners rounding and landing at the Cape in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Here Portuguese names like Mangas de Veludo (‘velvet sleeves’) are also recorded. The article concludes by looking at echoes of these four themes in the names of the Australasian Gannet Morus serrator.