Re: Japanese Seabird Names for Gaijin

[Paul Taylor <>]

> > "Mollymawk" is Portugese(?) for "foolish gull", so presumably "ahoudori"
> > has the same origin.
>
> Paul, presumably this is an Anglicised version of the original, do you know
> what the pure form of the word is? Interestingly, Japan had a long
> historical association with the Portuguese (& Dutch). I wonder who
> influenced who in this case....

My memory was faulty - it actually comes from the Dutch "mallemok" (not
Portugese):  "mal" foolish + "mok" gull.  The Macquarie dictionary that
I had on hand had the entry for "mollymawk" referring back to "mollemuck",
which contained the definition and derivation from "mollemok"; I'm not
sure if the "awk" in "mollymawk" is significant, but it is interesting.


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   Paul Taylor