General
Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Species list may not be current. Korean glosses are tentative. Comments and corrections welcome. Hover over Green Lettering Green lettering at this site hides a tool tip with glosses, further explanations, etc. Hover cursor to reveal. to see additional information.
Japanese names for the Muscicapidae are a late 19th century creation based on common names current at the time. There are a few general names that correspond to English names, plus a number of names for individual species or small groups of species.
1. ヒタキ hitaki (in combination often ビタキ -bitaki) is the general Japanese name for flycatchers (Muscicapa and Ficedula), stonechats and bush chats (Saxicola), and redstarts (Phoenicurus). It is roughly equivalent to 'flycatcher' in English. It is written with the character 鶲.
Redstarts bear the distinctive name of ジョウビタキ jō-bitaki, written 尉鶲, 常鶲 or 上鶲. All characters for jō are arbitrarily assigned based on pronunciation (ate-ji).
Writing: According to Obunsha Kanwa Jiten, use of the character 鶲 for the flycatchers originated in Japanese. 鶲 in Chinese was an old character for an unknown kind of bird that was appropriated to represent hitaki 'flycatcher' in Japanese for lack of a suitable alternative.
On the other hand, 鶲 in this sense may not be entirely without precedent in Chinese. Minus the bird radical, 翁 (pronounced ) meant both 'old man' and the 'feathers on the nape of a bird's neck' in Classical Chinese. The well-known Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) is known in Chinese as 白頭翁 'white-headed old man'. Moreover, in folk usage two muscicapid species are also known as : the White-capped Water Redstart (Chaimarrornis leucocephalus) or 白頂鶲 'white-capped weng' and the Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) or 白頭鶲 'white-headed weng'. Both can be written with the character 鶲. This suggests that the use of 鶲 for hitaki is conceivably based on existing Chinese usage.
2. The robins are named after the Japanese Robin (Larvivora akahige) or コマドリ koma-dori 'pony-bird', which is so named because its call resembles the whinnying of a horse. It is written 駒鳥, using the characters for 'pony' and 'bird'. This name was then extended to other types of 'robin', such as the Siberian Rubythroat (Calliope calliope) or ノゴマ no-goma, literally 'field pony', written 野駒, and the Bluethroat (Luscinia svevica) or オガワコマドリ ogawa koma-dori, 'Ogawa pony bird', written 小川駒鳥, named after the 19th century ornithologist Minori Ogawa. The written name eventually gave rise to the modern Chinese ornithological name for the robins.
3. A few species have individual names outside the regular generic names. These include:
ムギマキ mugi-maki 'wheat-sower', written 麦蒔き or 麦播き. The name arises from the bird's arrival in autumn at the time wheat needs to be sown.
ルリ ruri 'lapis lazuli', written 瑠璃 or 琉璃, is used for the Blue-and-white Flycatcher (Cyanoptila cyanomelana) and the Siberian Blue Robin (Larvivora cyane) on the basis of their blue colour.
アカヒゲ aka-hige 'red beard' is written 赤髭 'red beard' and is the name of the Ryukyu Robin (Larvivora komadori).
4. The rock thrushes (Monticola), originally with the Turdidae, are known in Japanese as イソヒヨドリ (磯鵯) iso-hiyo-dori or イソヒヨ (磯鵯) iso-hiyo, both 'rrocky-shore bulbul'.
The scientific names of Luscinia komadori and Luscinia akahige are the reverse of the Japanese names from which they are derived. This mixup is due to Temminck. The incorrect names have become quite entrenched, and the French names even take the erroneous scientific names as the basis for the French ornithological names.
2. Species names
ABOUT THIS TABLE| MUSCICAPINAE | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SCIENTIFIC & WESTERN |
JAPANESE |
CHINESE |
KOREAN |
||||
| MUSCICAPINI | |||||||
| Muscicapa | |||||||
Latin |
Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru |
Japanese |
Other J |
Chinese |
Chinese (Taiwan) |
Other Ch |
Korean |
Muscicapa griseisticta |
Grey-streaked flycatcher Spot-breasted flycatcher Grey-spotted flycatcher Gobemouche à taches grises Fleckenschnäpper Пестрогрудая мухоловка |
エゾビタキ (蝦夷鶲) ezo-bitaki 'Hokkaido flycatcher' |
灰纹鹟 (灰紋鶲) 'grey patterned flycatcher' (1, 2, 3, 4) 灰斑鹟 (灰斑鶲) 'grey striped flycatcher' (5) |
灰斑鶲 (灰斑鹟) 'grey striped flycatcher' |
斑胸鹟 (斑胸鶲) 'stripe-chested flycatcher' (6, 7, 31) |
제비딱새 jebi-ttak-sae 'swallow flycatcher-bird' |
|
| Muscicapa sibirica |
Dark-sided flycatcher Siberian flycatcher Sooty flycatcher Gobemouche de Sibérie Rußschnäpper Сибирская мухоловка |
サメビタキ (鮫鶲) same-bitaki 'shark flycatcher' |
乌鹟 (烏鶲) 'dark flycatcher' |
(乌鹟) 烏鶲 'dark flycatcher' |
Taiwan formerly: (鲜卑鹟) 鮮卑鶲 'Xianbei flycatcher' 西比利亚鹟 (西比利亚鶲) 'Siberian flycatcher' (early ornithological) (35) 鲛鹟 (鮫鶲) 'shark flycatcher' (35, from Zool. Nomen.) 斑鹟 (斑鶲) 'striped flycatcher' (35, from Zool. Nomen.) |
솔딱새 sol-ttak-sae 'pine flycatcher-bird' |
|
| Muscicapa dauurica |
Asian brown flycatcher Brown flycatcher Gobemouche brun Braunschnäpper Ширококлювая мухоловка |
コサメビタキ (小鮫鶲) ko-same-bitaki 'small shark flycatcher' |
北灰鹟 (背灰鶲) 'northern grey flycatcher' |
(宽嘴鹟) 寬嘴鶲 'broad-billed flycatcher' |
阔嘴鹟 (闊嘴鶲) 'broad-billed flycatcher' (alt in 7) 大眼嘴儿 (大眼嘴兒) 'large eye bill' 小斑鹟 (小斑鶲) 'small striped flycatcher' |
쇠솔딱새 soe-sol-ttak-sae 'small pine flycatcher-bird' |
|
| Muscicapa ferruginea |
Ferruginous flycatcher Rufous-tailed flycatcher Gobemouche ferrugineux Rostschnäpper |
ミヤマビタキ (深山鶲) mi-yama-bitaki 'deep mountain flycatcher' |
棕尾褐鹟 (棕尾褐鶲) 'reddishbrown-tailed brown flycatcher' (2, 3, 4) 棕尾鹟 (棕尾鶲) 'reddishbrown-tailed flycatcher' (alt in 1, 5) |
(红尾鹟) 紅尾鶲 'red-tailed flycatcher' |
红褐鹟 (紅褐鶲) 'red-brown flycatcher' (6, 7) |
귤색딱새 gyul-saek-ttak-sae | |