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Last modified: 2018-05-25 by kryštof huk
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![[Kosice flag]](../images/c/cz-hk-ko.gif)
by Jarig Bakker, 3 May 2004
The stylized image of the "kos" is very attractive. I guess the
flag is canting.
What does the bird's Latin genus mean?
Lewis A. Nowitz, 2 May 2004
Turdus = a thrush
merula = a blackbird
Hence a black thrush.
Albert S. Kirsch, 3 May 2004
The correct spelling of the Latin name of the blackbird should be "Turdus merula" (Genus - species). The genus name was derived from the Latin name of the thrush, "turdus". The family "Turdidae" includes, inter alia, genus "Erithacus" ("E. rubra", robin), "Luscinia" ("L. megarhynchos", nightingale), "Phoenicurus" ("P. ochruros", black redstart; "P. phoenicurus", white redstart), "Saxicola" ("S. torquata", stonechat), "Oenanthe" ("O. oenanthe", wheatear), "Monticola" ("M. saxatilis", rocky blackbird; "M. solitarius", blue blackbird) and "Turdus" (thrushes and blackbirds).
Genus "Turdus" includes "T. merula" (black blackbird, "merula" being the Latin name of the bird, in French, "merle"), "T. torquatus" (plastron blackbird) and several species of thrushes ("T. pilaris", "T. philomelos", "T. iliacus" and "T. viscivorus"). This is just a brief outline of the European "Turdidae". Siberian birds have been found from time to time in France, for instance "Zoothera dauma" (golden thrush, spotted six times in the XIXth century and four times in the XXth century) and "Zoothera sibirica" (Siberian thrush). The great ambidextrous French Daviscupplayer Merlo does not belong to this species.
Source: La faune de France. Inventaire des vertebres et principaux invertebres. Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 1992.
In classic Latin, the blackbird was called "merula", later "merulus". The first use of "merle" in French is dated from the XIIth century. A female blackbird was called in the XIVth century "merlesse", and is today, but extremely unfrequently, called "merlette". The heraldic word "merlette" (a small bird without beak and with folded wings) has the same origin.
Source: Le Grand Robert de la Langue Francaise, Paris. 2001.
Ivan Sache, 15 May 2004
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