corvine

Did You Know?

Few people crow about "corvine" - it's not often you'll come across the word - but it has been part of the English language since the mid-17th century. Like most taxonomic terms, "corvine" has a purely Latin pedigree. Corvine is from Latin corvinus, which in turn is from Latin corvus, meaning "raven." (The word raven itself is from the Old English term "hræfn," which is akin to "hraban," the Old High German word for "raven," and also to "corvus.") Another word from "corvus" is "cormorant," which refers to a dark-colored seabird and comes from Old French words meaning "raven" and "of the sea."