Peregrination

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Peregrination

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Jul 17, 2021 7:43 pm

• peregrination •


Pronunciation: pe-rê-gri-nay-shên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A journey, an act of travel on foot or by vehicle. 2. (In the plural) Meanderings from place to place, wanderings.

Notes: Today's Good Word is the action noun from the verb peregrinate "to travel, journey" and comes with a healthy family. The personal noun is peregrinator, in case you need more syllables than traveler has to offer. We have a long adjective, peregrinatory, and a short one, peregrine, which can also mean "foreign, not domestic", as 'a peregrine species of plants'.

In Play: Today's Good Word is a near synonym of journey, but one that raises the level of conversation just a tad: "Minnie Miles was exhausted after her long peregrination from Big Butte, Montana, to New Monia, Pennsylvania." In the plural, it implies meandering, traveling without a specific destination: "Dusty Rhodes kept a journal of his summer peregrinations through Europe and illustrated it with hundreds of photographs he took along the way."

Word History: This word comes to English via French from Latin peregrinatio(n) "a journey". This noun is derived from peregrinatus, the past participle of peregrinari "to travel abroad", a verb derived from the adjective peregrinus "from abroad, a foreigner, a pilgrim." The adjective, in turn, was created from an adverb peregre "abroad", originally from per "through, across, beyond" + ager, agri "field, territory, country". This last word is the same that we see in agriculture, originally "field-culture". It came to English directly, via its Germanic ancestry, as acre. (Let's not peregrinate any farther without thanking Husain Mustafa for suggesting today's very Good Word.)
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bbeeton
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Re: Peregrination

Postby bbeeton » Sat Jul 17, 2021 8:51 pm

A few days ago, I was delighted to witness an illustrated talk by a local photographer who specializes in the raptors in this city (Providence), and in particular the peregrine falcons that nest in a box provided for that purpose on a parapet of the tallest building in the city. There is plenty to eat -- the streets below are well stocked with pigeons, which are fed by the local populace (when will they learn?).

Rather than the slow progress of a meandering (another lovely word, calling to mind the sinuous path of a river in a coastal marsh -- watch for them when occupying the window seat on an airplane flying along the southern coast of the U.S.), my vision of a peregrine is in a stoop, in which the bird reaches the highest speed known for any animal on the planet, sometimes upwards of 200 miles per hour.

[Some pictures of the peregrines, also redtails, kestrels and various owls, can be seen at https://providenceraptors.com ]

David Myer
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Re: Peregrination

Postby David Myer » Mon Jul 19, 2021 6:42 am

Lovely imagery, Barbara.

Of course peregrine falcons are known for their travel, and hence the name, but their journeys are far from meanderings - indeed, they are very purposeful.

Incidentally, we too have a high-rise building in Melbourne that is home to a nest of peregrines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oZz8nx ... nAustralia

bbeeton
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Re: Peregrination

Postby bbeeton » Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:38 am

Thank you for the link to the video of the Melbourne peregrines. It's fascinating to watch them grow from feisty white fluffballs to eminently flightworthy beings. The peregrine nest box here also has a camera, but the kids have fledged, so we have to wait for next year.

I've been told that the world's highest concentration of peregrines is in New York City. Pity the pigeons.

Philip Hudson
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Re: Peregrination

Postby Philip Hudson » Wed Jul 21, 2021 12:04 am

I once had occasion to create the illusion of something moving randomly around by a computer that was used to test another computer program which was to track the movements. One of my coworkers called the test program a peregrinating parrot.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

David Myer
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Re: Peregrination

Postby David Myer » Wed Jul 21, 2021 3:22 am

I expect we have them in Australia - peregrinating parrots, I mean.

I just checked that idea in case there really was such a beast, and it seems that Falcons are more closely related to parrots than they are to hawks for example. So a peregrine parrot is not that far from the mark.


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