Coraciidae

1. General names

Chinese: The rollers in general are 佛法僧 fó-fǎ-sēng, which means 'Buddha-law-monk'. On Mainland China, the Broad-billed roller (Dollarbird) is called the 三宝鸟 sān-bǎo-niǎo, or 'three treasures bird'. In fact, 三宝 sān-bǎo refers to the 'three treasures' of Buddhism, namely the Buddha, the law, and the monks.

Japanese: The Japanese name is the same as Chinese, namely ブッポウソウ buppōsō, or 'Buddha-law-monk', written 仏法僧.

Vietnamese: There is no general Vietnamese name for the rollers. The Dollarbird is known as Yểng quạ ('raven mynah') and the European roller as Sả rừng ( 'forest kingfisher').

2. Species names

SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH		CHINESE			JAPANESE		VIETNAMESE
Latin	English	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Vietnamese	Other V
Coracias
Coracias garrulus	European roller	蓝胸佛法僧 lán-xiōng fófǎsēng 'blue-breasted buddha law monk'			ニシブッポウソウ (西仏法僧) nishi buppōsō 'western buddha law monk'
Coracias benghalensis	Indian roller	棕胸佛法僧 zōng-xiōng fófǎsēng 'reddish-brown-breasted buddha law monk'			インドブッポウソウ (インド仏法僧) Indo buppōsō 'Indian buddha law monk'		Sả rừng 'forest kingfisher'
Eurystomus
Eurystomus orientalis	Dollarbird Eastern broad-billed roller Broad-billed roller (Cheng)	三宝鸟 sān-bǎo-niǎo 'three treasure bird'	佛法僧 fófǎsēng 'buddha law monk'	东方宽嘴转鸟 dōngfāng kuān-zuǐ zhuǎn-niǎo 'eastern wide-billed rolling bird' (old scientific name) 老鸹翠 lǎo-guā cuì 'crow kingfisher' 阔嘴鸟 kuò-zuǐ-niǎo 'broad-billed bird' 海南了 Hāinán liǎo 'Hainan liao' (grackle?)	ブッポウソウ (仏法僧) buppōsō 'buddha law monk'		Yểng quạ 'raven mynah'

3. Note

1. The term 佛法僧 fófǎsēng presumably started as a name for the Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis). It is still used that way in Taiwan and Japan but is no longer used for the Dollarbird itself on the Mainland, although it is retained for the name of the family Coraciidae and for two lesser known species of Coracina found in less populated areas. The current Taiwanese/Japanese usage was probably the original usage.

2. The ブッポウソウ buppōsō is also known in Japanese as the 'Buddha-law-monk in form' (姿の仏法僧 sugata no buppōsō). The scops owl ko-no-ha zuku (Otus scops), whose call sounds like 'buppōsō', is known as the 'Buddha-law-monk in voice' (声の仏法僧 koe no buppōsō).

3. Both Chinese and Vietnamese have alternative names suggesting similarities to the kingfishers, which also belong to the Coraciiformes. Several names also suggest a similarity to a crow or raven.