The Key to Scientific Names
- phoenicurus
L. phoenicurus redstart < Gr. φοινικουρος phoinikouros redstart < φοινιξ phoinix, φοινικος phoinikos crimson, red; -ουρος -ouros -tailed < ουρα oura tail.
● ex “Red-tailed Thrush” of Latham 1783 (?syn. Dessonornis caffer).
● "99. MOTACILLA. ... Phœnicurus. 21. M. gula nigra, abdomine rufo, capite dorsoque cano. Fn. svec. 2. 4. Ruticilla. Will. orn. 159. Raj. av. 78. n. 5. Alb. av. I. p. 48. t. 50. Phœnicurus media, penna caudæ subnigra. Frisch. av. t. 20. f. 3. Habitat in Europa." (Linnaeus 1758) (Phoenicurus).- PHOENICURUS
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Common Redstart P. phoenicurus) L. phoenicurus redstart < Gr. φοινικουρος phoinikouros redstart < φοινιξ phoinix, φοινικος phoinikos crimson, red; -ουρος -ouros -tailed < ουρα oura tail (cf. specific name Motacilla phoenicurus Linnaeus, 1758); "SYLVIA PHOENICVRVS. Phoenicurus Ruficilla? Redstart, Redtail, or Shaketail." (T. Forster 1817); "Phoenicurus Forster, 1817, Synopt. Cat. Brit. Birds, 16, p. 53. Type, by tautonymy, Motacilla phoenicurus Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters 1964, X, 74). According to Aristotle, the Common Redstart changed into the European Robin during the winter, and some of the shared synonyms reflect this old folkloric wisdom.
Var. Phenicura, Phoenicura, Phaenicura, Phaenicurus.
Synon. Adelura, Chaimarrornis, Diplootocus, Dorisornis, Kawabitakia, Nymphaeus, Phaeca, Rhyacornis, Rhondella, Rubecula, Ruticilla, Torrentaria.
● (Phaethontidae; syn. Phaethon Ϯ Red-tailed Tropicbird P. rubricauda) Gr. φοινιξ phoinix, φοινικος phoinikos red; ουρα oura tail (cf. specific name Phaethon phoenicurus J. Gmelin, 1789 (= syn. Phaethon rubricauda)); "Subf. 7. Phaetoninæ. ... 19. Phœnicurus, Bp. 70 rubricauda, Bodd. (erubescens, Brandt.)" (Bonaparte 1855); "Phoenicurus Bonaparte, 1855, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, XLI (26), p. 1115 (not of Forster, 1817). Type, by monotypy, Phaeton rubricauda Boddaert, 1783." (JAJ 2021).