Püü (Püü)

Ptarmigan. Two species – Laanepüü, hazel grouse, Bonasa bonasia and rabapüü, willow ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus – breed in Estonia. The ‘t’ of ptarmigan is wrong. The name comes from Scottish Gaelic tàrmachan, of unknown origin, and the initial pt- from the mistaken belief in a Greek origin to do with wings (ptero)- (wing). But no. As to its actual etymology, there is little clear evidence. Wikipedia gives 't̪ʰaɾaməxan, for ‘croaker’ referring to the bird’s call, but I find no source. Alexander MacBain’s Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language of 1896, concentrating on Scot. Gael., sheds some interesting light. For example, the dunlin (Calidris alpina) in Scot. Gael. is pollairean, meaning ‘bird of the mud pits’, where ean (and variants) means ‘bird’ and poll ‘mud’ or ‘mud pits’. So we know – as with fireun (eagle), from fior + eun (true bird) or giodhran (barnacle goose from gèadh + an (goose bird) – that the -ean, -eum, -an ending means bird. So far so good. My suggestion is that the name could derive from a combination of terms reflecting its size and habitat indicating something akin to ‘(big-)bellied bird of the plains’, from tàrr (lower belly) + magh (plain, field) + an. Could be (grossly) wrong so don’t quote me! Part of the Lilleküla bird-name group of streets. See also Ronga.