Mergus
/ˈmɜːr.ɡəs/noun
A genus of fish-eating diving ducks, including mergansers.
Did you know?Mergus comes from Latin mergus, “a diver,” and is related to the verb mergere, the source of English “merge,” originally carrying the sense of sinking or plunging together.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mezg-
“To plunge or sink; a reconstructed root associated with the Latin diving verb”
Classical Latin
Latin
mergere
“To dip, plunge, sink, or submerge”
Classical Latin
Latin
mergus
“A diver; a diving waterbird”
1758
Scientific Latin
Mergus
“A genus name established by Linnaeus for diving ducks”
Modern English
English
Mergus
“The taxonomic genus containing mergansers and related diving ducks”