Comments on: Albatross and Alcatraz Island

By: Cecily

Cecily — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:45:39 +0000

I read this a couple of days before going to California on holiday. Because of this post, I was on the look-out for pelicans on the SF to Santa Barbara coast and saw many (and yet more on Alcatraz). An unexpected benefit of learning etymology!

By: Maeve

Maeve — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:30:27 +0000

@BA
Thanks for the footnote.
Makes sense.

By: BA

BA — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:38:01 +0000

I read an article by eNature only yesterday which explained a probable correction to the conventional wisdom about the source of the name for “The Rock”.

“Most reference sources attribute the name “Alcatraz” to the Spanish word for “pelican,” which is “alcarez.” And while pelicans frequently visit the bay, it’s doubtful they ever nested on Alcatraz. A look at the island today, particularly the west side, which is often completely covered with nesting cormorants, may reveal the true source of the name. We know that Don Juan Manual Ayala named the rock for the birds he saw there, but maybe he called it “alcatraceo,” the Spanish word for “cormorant.”"
http://enature.com/articles/detail.asp?storyID=454

By: Rod

Rod — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:22:45 +0000

In Spanish Albatros is a bird similar to Pelican but not the same pelicano is the word in Spanish and Alcatraz is a flower “arum”

By: AmaT

AmaT — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:55:35 +0000

Very interesting ~ Thank you!