garganey

Meanings

1. A small dabbling duck, Anas querquedula, that breeds in much of Europe and western Asia, and winters in Africa.

Etymology

From the Italian/Lombard language word gargenei, variant of garganello, by dissimilation of earlier *gargalella, diminutive of *gargala, ultimately from Late Latin gargala (“tracheal artery”), from the root *garg (“throat”), imitative of gargling, see also Ancient Greek γαργαρεών (gargareṓn, “uvula, trachea”). The English usage owes its origins to Conrad Gesner, who used the Italian name in the third volume of his Historiae Animalium (History of Animals) of 1555.