Abstract

The Blackbird in Early Literature
Macurdy, Grace Harriet | May 3, 1919 issue

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In every European country the turdus merula is found, and the wise in philology tells that the Latin merula, the Old High German ainsala, and the English ousel or woozel or ouzel are all kin. So that makes merle and ousel doublets in a way, unlike as they are in sound. The word "blackbird" first occurs in English in author Dame Juliana Berners' "Boke of Saint Albans," published in 1486, in the chapter on hunting "the Blackbride and the Thrush." Strangely enough, the blackbird is hardly mentioned in Greek literature before the Hellenistic period.

See Also:

BLACKBIRDS; PHILOLOGY; BOKE of Saint Albans (Poem); GREEK literature, Hellenistic; LITERATURE, Comparative; PUBLISHERS & publishing
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