Yesterday's Canberra Times quick crossword had a word new to me. The
clue was 'Scratching the ground for food', 8 letters.
The answer given today is 'rasorial'. Never heard of it. I checked
the Aust Concise Oxford English Dictionary: not there.
I checked the full OED (Third edition, December 2008; online version
September 2011. <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/158339>;
accessed 07 December 2011), with this result:
rasorial, adj.
Pronunciation: Brit. /rəˈsɔːrɪəl/ , U.S. /rəˈsɔriəl/
Etymology: < scientific Latin Rasores (see Rasores n.) + -ial
suffix.
Chiefly Ornithol.
Originally: †of, relating to, or designating the former order
Rasores (obs.). Later: designating or characteristic of a bird
that scratches the ground to obtain food (now rare).
1833 P. J. Selby Illustr. Brit. Ornithol. II. 6 It‥feeds much
upon newly sown corn and other seeds; in this respect indicating a
close connexion with birds of the gallinaceous or rasorial order.
1872 Amer. Naturalist 6 272 Among rasorial birds, the quail
and the prairie chicken‥here reach their present western limit.
1909 Missouri Bot. Garden Rep. 73 The Brown Thrush‥is
terrestrial and rasorial in its habits.
1952 W. Gaddis Recognitions (1955) ii. vii. 620 They‥saw only
the paunchy guest of the evening moving toward it, in an unsteady
rasorial attitude as though following a trail of crumbs to the
great world outside.
rasorial, adj.
An entry for this word was first included in New English
Dictionary, 1903.
I then need to investigate the word 'rasores', viz.:
Rasores, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /rəˈsɔːriːz/ , U.S. /rəˈsɔriz/
Etymology: < scientific Latin Rasores ( J. K. W. Illiger
Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium (1811 ) 195), spec. use
of plural of classical Latin rāsor scraper (only recorded in an
8th-cent. epitome) < rās- , past participial stem of rādere to
scrape, scratch (see raze v.) + -or -or suffix.
Ornithol. Now hist.
With sing. concord. A former order of birds comprising those
that scratch the ground to obtain food, including the gallinaceous
birds and the doves and pigeons; (with pl. concord) the members of
this order. The order corresponds largely to the modern orders
Galliformes, Columbiformes, and Pteroclidiformes.
OK, probably everyone else already knew this good word for an aspect
of bird behaviour, but it was new to me!
David
--
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