- starling
- O.E. stærlinc, with dim. suffix -linc, from stær "starling," from P.Gmc. *staraz (cf. O.E. stearn, O.N. stari, Norw. stare, O.H.G. stara, Ger. star "starling"), from PIE *storo- (cf. L. sturnus "starling," O.Pruss. starnite "gull").
- stare (n.)
- "starling," from O.E. (see starling).
- mynah
- type of passerine bird of India and the East, "talking starling," 1769, from Hindi maina "a starling," from Skt. madana-s "love, passion," with a special sense of "bird."
- hormone
- 1905, from Gk. hormon "that which sets in motion," prp. of horman "impel, urge on," from horme "onset, impulse." Used by Hippocrates to denote a vital principle; modern meaning coined by Eng. physiologist Ernest Henry Starling (1866-1927). Jung used horme (1915) in ref. to hypothetical mental energy that drives unconscious activities and instincts.
- tern
- gull-like shore bird (subfamily Sterninae), 1678, via E.Anglian dialect, from a Scand. source (cf. Dan. terne, Swed. tärna, Færoese terna) related to O.N. þerna "tern," cognate with O.E. stearn "starling."
- thrush (1)
- type of songbird, O.E. þyrsce (related to throstle), from P.Gmc. *thruskjon (cf. O.N. þröstr, Norw. trost, O.H.G. drosca), from PIE *trozdo- (cf. L. turdus, Lith. strazdas "thrush," M.Ir. truid, Welsh drudwy "starling," O.C.S. drozgu, Rus. drozdu).
- sparrow
- small brownish-gray bird, O.E. spearwa, from P.Gmc. *sparwan (cf. O.N. spörr, O.H.G. sparo, Ger. Sperling, Goth. sparwa), from PIE *sper- (cf. Cornish frau "crow;" O.Prus. spurglis "sparrow;" Gk. spergoulos "small field bird," psar "starling"). Sparrowhawk is attested from c.1400. Sparrowfarts (1886) was Cheshire slang for "very early morning."