# kleszczojad



## jcwarbler

Dear friends,

I want to know the exact meaning (literal) of *kleszczojad* name.
I know it is the name of a bird (genus C_rotophaga_, cuckoo family), from _kleszcz_ 'tick'.
They are know because eat ticks from cattle (cows and horses), but I am looking for its etymology...

And, kleszczojad is male or female word?

Best wishes from Venezuela,

Juan Carlos


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## Mori.cze

Hi, as you say klescz = tick, and also jad = eater. The o wovel in between has no meaning of its own, but it is often inserted in compound words - I believe the main reason is just to make the pronunciation easier. Both klescz and jeść (to eat, from which jad is derived) are very old words, traced back to proto-slavic at least. I believe (but cannot check the dictionary at the time) the original meaning of klescz has something to do with clutching or gripping firmly, as the bug do (a related Czech word means plyers).

It is a masculine noun.


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## jcwarbler

Dziękuję bardzo Mori.cze! Just the information I needed! I have a few more Polish bird names, can I sent you to check it?

Best wishes,

Juan Carlos


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## jasio

Indeed, suffix "-jad" can often be translated as 'eater', and it's quite productive. So as Mori.cze stated, "kleszczojad" literally means "tick eater". Similar names include "mrówkojad" (ant eater), "miodojad" (honey eater), "wężojad" (serpent eater), "żabojad" (frog eater = French), etc. There is also a similar suffix "-żerca" coming from "żreć" (to eat when referring to animals, or to gobble when referring to humans), hence mięsożerca (carnivore), roślinożerca (herbivore), reklamożerca (advertisement eater - a metaphore), etc. 

Regarding the grammatical gender, it may be interesting for you to know that in Polish (and most other Slavic languages) there are rules similar to Romance languages:

the gender of nouns referring to humans and some animals agrees with the sex - if the latter is obvious
nouns ending in Nominative case with "-a" or "-i" typically are feminine gender
nouns ending in Nominative case with "-o", "-e" or "-ę" typically are neuter
all other nouns typically are masculine
There are multiple exceptions though to all of these rules. Besides they only apply to singular number, as in plural the categorisation is completely different.


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## jcwarbler

Dziękuję bardzo jasio!

This is the text to include at my work:

*kleszczojad*. [Polish] m. (from _kleszczojad_ 'tick eater', from _kleszcz_ 'tick' and _jad_ 'eater' < _jeść_ 'to eat'). [_Crotophaga_ spp.]

*kleszczojad bruzdodzioby*. [Polish] m. (from _kleszczojad_ 'tick eater', from _kleszcz_ 'tick' and _jad_ 'eater' < _jeść_ 'to eat'; and _bruzda_ 'furrow, groove' and _dziób_ 'beak'). [_C. sulcirostris_]

*kleszczojad gładkodzioby*. [Polish] m. (from _kleszczojad_ 'tick eater', from _kleszcz_ 'tick' and _jad_ 'eater' < _jeść_ 'to eat'; _gładka_ 'smooth' and _dziób_ 'beak'). [_C. ani_]

*kleszczojad wielki*. [Polish] m. (from _kleszczojad_ 'tick eater', from _kleszcz_ 'tick' and _jad_ 'eater' < _jeść_ 'to eat' and _wielki_ 'great'). [_C. major_]

What do you think?

Best wishes,

JC


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## jasio

Exactly!

One note though:


jcwarbler said:


> *kleszczojad gładkodzioby*. [Polish] m. (from _kleszczojad_ 'tick eater', from _kleszcz_ 'tick' and _jad_ 'eater' < _jeść_ 'to eat'; _gładka_ 'smooth' and _dziób_ 'beak'). [_C. ani_]


In Polish adjectives are inflected by gender (to agree with the nouns they refer to). The masculine form is treated as the basic one, and it's used In dictionaries, so it would be most natural to write "_gładki_" - especially that "_dziób_" is also masculine. Kleszczojad gładkodzioby ma gładki dziób.


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## jcwarbler

Thanks again! Can you send me your name (jasio and Mori.cze), maybe privately, to include it at the section "Acknowledgments" of my work? At least the initial letter of your name and your full surname... Example: J. Smith

Best wishes, JC


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## Ben Jamin

jasio said:


> I
> 
> the gender of nouns referring to humans and some animals agrees with the sex - if the latter is obvious




I don't grasp the meaning of this line.


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