Chaffink
The word finch comes from the Middle English word fynch.
This, in turn, comes from the Old English work finċ.
And that? We can trace it to the Proto-Germanic word finkiz.
The modern Dutch word is vink, and the modern German word is Fink. They come from the same root.
We can trace the name finch all the way back, through multiple languages, to their common ancestor, an unheard language called Proto-Indo-European, where the word for Finch was (s)pingos. It’s possible that Proto-Indo-European would have been spoken from 4500 BC to 2500 BC during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age.
What does the word mean, and why has it remained the same through thousands of years, many countries and multiple languages? I watch a Chaffinch in the Oak and hear it call. “Pink! Pink!” it says, as if to answer.
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