Gaviidae
アビ科
abi-ka

General

Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Species list may not be current. Korean glosses are tentative. Comments and corrections welcome. Hover over Green Lettering Green lettering at this site hides a tool tip with glosses, further explanations, etc. Hover cursor to reveal. to see additional information.

Japanese has two words for the divers: アビ abi and ハム hamu. Abi is written 阿比 in Chinese characters and hamu is written 波武 (literally 'wave warrior'). The etymologies of アビ abi and ハム hamu are unclear. There is a theory that hamu is originally from ウオハミ uo-hami (魚食み) meaning 'fish eater'. Similarly, abi is said to be from ハミ hami (食み) 'eater'. (See this site and this site).

The Chinese characters used for ハム hamu (波武) and アビ abi (阿比) are thus not related to their etymological origins. They are ateji -- makeshift substitutes that have been assigned in the absence of suitable characters. 阿比 is a rather strained attempt to indicate pronunciation (normally it would be read ahi); there is no attempt to capture a meaning. Besides pronunciation, 波武 also attempts to express a meaning ('wave warrior'). The name 阿比 abi has found its way into both Korean and Chinese.

The abi are also known in the Inland Sea area as 'Heike birds', i.e., ヘイケドリ Heike-dori, written 平家鳥. The name is obviously derived from the Heike or Taira clan of mediaeval Japan, which fought a war with the rival Minamoto clan for control of the nation. Their defeat gave rise to many tragic ballads and legends. The connection of the divers with the Heike is unclear, but according to this site, the name Heike-taoshi ヘイケタオシ ('cause the defeat of the Heike') is a name given because Heike soldiers, taking the cry of the divers as human calls, advanced into battle at the wrong time and were slaughtered.

Other names are イカリドリ ikari-dori (イカリ鳥) or 'anchor bird', セトリ se-dori (瀬鳥) or 'shallows bird', and マドリ ma-dori (真鳥) or 'true bird'. The birds are useful to fishermen as a guide to the presence of fish.

Species names

SCIENTIFIC & WESTERN		JAPANESE		CHINESE			KOREAN
Gavia
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Gavia stellata	Red-throated diver or Red-throated loon Plongeon catmarin Sterntaucher Краснозобая гагара	アビ (阿比) abi 'abi'		红喉潜鸟 (紅喉潛鳥) hóng-hóu qián-niǎo 'red-throated diving bird'	(红喉潜鸟) 紅喉潛鳥 hóng-hóu qián-niǎo 'red-throated diving bird'		아비 abi 'diver'
Gavia arctica	Black-throated diver or Arctic loon Black-throated loon Plongeon arctique Prachttaucher Чернозобая гагара	オオハム (大波武) ō-hamu 'large hamu' (hamu written 'wave warrior')		黑喉潜鸟 (黑喉潛鳥) hēi-hóu qián-niǎo 'black-throated diving bird' or 绿喉潜鸟 (綠喉潛鳥) lǜ-hóu qián-niǎo 'green-throated diving bird' (alt in 1)	(黑喉潜鸟) 黑喉潛鳥 hēi-hóu qián-niǎo 'black-throated diving bird'		큰회색머리아비 keun-hoe-saeng-meori-abi 'large grey-headed diver'
Gavia pacifica	Pacific loon or Pacific diver Plongeon du Pacifique Weißnackentaucher Белошейная гагара	シロエリオオハム (白襟大波武) shiro-eri ō-hamu 'white-collared large hamu' (hamu written 'wave warrior')		太平洋潜鸟 (太平洋潛鳥) tàipíng-yáng qián-niǎo 'Pacific ocean diving bird'	(太平洋潜鸟) 太平洋潛鳥 tàipíng-yáng qián-niǎo 'Pacific ocean diving bird'		회색머리아비 hoe-saeng-meori-abi 'grey-headed diver'
Gavia adamsii	White-billed diver or Yellow-billed loon Plongeon à bec blanc Gelbschnabeltaucher Белоклювая гагара	ハシジロアビ (嘴白阿比) hashi-jiro abi 'white-billed abi'		黄嘴潜鸟 (黃嘴潛鳥) huáng-zuǐ qián-niǎo 'yellow-billed diving bird' (2, 4) 白嘴潜鸟 (白嘴潛鳥) bái-zuǐ qián-niǎo 'white-billed diving bird' (1, 3, 5)			흰부리아비 huin-buri-abi 'white-billed diver'

中国鸟类种和亚种分类名录大全（修订版） 郑作新 著 科学出版社 北京 2000年
A Complete Checklist of Species and Subspecies of the Chinese Birds (Revised Edition) by Cheng Tso-Hsin, Science Press, Beijing 2000

中国鸟类分类与分布名录 主编：郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2005年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of China Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2005

中国鸟类野外手册（中文版）约翰・马敬能、卡伦・菲利普斯，合作者：荷芬奇，翻译：卢和芬 湖南教育出版社 长沙 2000年
A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Chinese translation) by John MacKinnon, Karen Phillipps, in collaboration with He Fen-qi, translated by Lu Hefen, Hunan Jiaoyu Chubanshe (Hunan Educational Press) Changsha 2000

世界鸟类分类与分布名录 主编：郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2002年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of the World Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2002

世界鸟类名称（拉丁文、汉文、英文对照）第二版 郑作新等 科学出版社 北京 2002年
Birds of the World (Latin, Chinese and English Names) 2nd ed. by Cheng Tso-Hsin et al, Science Press, Beijing 2002