the records of the
Elizabethan voyagers, is more often called by its Spanish name
_tiburon_, whence Cape Tiburon, in Haiti. The origin of _shark_ is
unknown, but it appears to be identical with _shirk_, for which we find
earlier _sherk_. We find Ital. _scrocco_ (whence Fr. _escroc_), Ger.
_Schurke_, Du. _schurk_, rascal, all rendered "shark" in early
dictionaries, but the relationship of these words is not clear. The
_palmer_, _i.e._ pilgrim, worm is so called from his wandering habits.
_Ortolan_, the name given by Tudor cooks to the garden bunting, means
"gardener" (Lat. _hortus_, garden). It comes to us through French from
Ital. _ortolano_, "a gardener, an orchard keeper. Also a kinde of
daintie birde in Italie, some take it to be the linnet" (Florio). We may
compare Fr. _bouvreuil_, bull-finch, a diminutive of _bouvier_, ox-herd.
This is called in German _Dompfaffe_, a contemptuous name for a
cathedral canon. Fr. _moineau_, sparrow, is a diminutive of _moine_,
monk. The wagtail is called in French _lavandiere_, laundress, from the
up and down motion of its tail suggesting the washerwoman's beetle, and
_bergeronnette_, little shepherdess, from its habit of following the
sheep. _Adjutant_, the nickname of the solemn Indian stork, is clearly
due to Mr Atkins, and the _secretary_ bird is so named because some of
his head feathers suggest a quill pen behind an ear.

The converse process of people being nicknamed from animals is also
common and the metaphor is usually pretty obvious. An interesting case
is _shrew_, a libel on a very inoffensive little animal, the
_shrew-mouse_, Anglo-Sax. _scr[=e]awa_. Cooper describes _mus araneus_
as "a kinde of mise called a _shrew_, which if he go over a beastes
backe he shall be lame in the chyne; if he byte it swelleth to the heart
and the beast dyeth." This "information" is derived from Pliny, but the
superstition is found in Greek. The epithet was, up to Shakespeare's
time, applied indifferently to both sexes. From _shrew_ is derived
_shrewd_, earlier _shrewed_,[29] the meaning of which has become much
milder than when Henry VIII. said to Cranmer--

"The common voice I see is verified
Of thee which says, 'Do my lord of Canterbury
A _shrewd_ turn, and he's your friend for ever.'"
(_Henry VIII._, v. 2.)

The title _Dauphin_, lit. dolphin, commemorates the absorption into the
French monarchy, in 1349, of the lordship of Da