Anhingidae

(蛇鹈科 Shé-tí kē ヘビウ科 Hebi-u ka Họ Cổ rắn)

(Note: Some CJV Family and subfamily names under Monroe and Sibley are only tentative at this stage)

1. General names

Chinese: In Chinese, the Darter is known as 蛇鹈 shé-tí 'snake-cormorant'.

Japanese: The darters are known as ヘビウ hebi-u or 'snake-cormorants' in Japanese, written with the characters 蛇鵜, as in Chinese.

Vietnamese: The darters have two names in Vietnamese: Cổ rắn 'snake neck' or Điêng điểng.

2. Species names

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SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH
CHINESE
JAPANESE
VIETNAMESE
Latin English Chinese Chinese (Taiwan) Other Ch Japanese Other J Vietnamese Other V
Anhinga melanogaster
binoculars		 Darter
Indian darter (Cheng)
Asian darter 		黑腹蛇鹈
hēi-fù shé-tí
'black-bellied snake cormorant'
     アジアヘビウ
(アジア蛇鵜)
Ajia hebi-u
'Asian snake cormorant'		   Cổ rắn
'snake neck'
or
Điêng điểng
'dieng dieng'		  

 

3. Notes

The distribution of the Anhingidae in East Asia can be found at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of Ciconiides in East Asia.

In all three languages, the resemblance of the bird's neck to a snake is alluded to in its name. The Chinese and Japanese terms are related, probably through borrowing. Although it is not possible to say for sure, the fact that Japanese uses kun-yomi suggests that the word was borrowed from Japanese into Chinese.