Yet ANOTHER German nickname for the IL 2...

[Dénes Bernád]

A (semi) off-topic question: why was the Fw 190 called in English 'The Butcher Bird' (see, for example, subtitle of Green and Swanborough's book)? I think the name originated for similar reasons...

[NickM]

Denes:

As I recall, the nickname for the FW, "Butcher Bird" is referring to a small (probably smaller than a dove), compact, aggressive carnivorous bird known as a Shrike; it has been known to attack & overpower rodents, small birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, etc...it has this charming little habit of impaling it's prey on thorns and sharp twigs; the 'hanging meat' image is what spawned the nickname 'butcher bird'; so no doubt someone felt the FW was a great example of being a potent weapon in a small compact package & no doubt thought naming after the Shrike was appropriate;


NickM

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Dénes Bernád

A (semi) off-topic question: why was the Fw 190 called in English 'The Butcher Bird' (see, for example, subtitle of Green and Swanborough's book)? I think the name originated for similar reasons...

I'd always understood that it was a translation of the name that Focke-Wulf gave the aircraft: "Wuerger."

[Boandlgramer]

how is that bird called in english ?

[Ruy Horta]

However you argue it, German and English are related languages and the root word "Schlacht" relates to "slaughter." In English, a slaughterman kills animals, a butcher cuts up the meat from there on. Obviously the two trades overlapped.

Although I am not a linguist, German and Dutch are pretty similar, more so than English and German.

Schlacht may be more closely related to Schlagen or to hit (we in dutch have slaan and slag, to hit and strike - the latter corresponds perfectly with ground attack or groundstrike).

Not field of slaughter, but field of battle (hitting field).

Even the English Slain may be more closely related to hitting than slaying.

hitting, striking, slaying or slaughtering all the same root

[John Beaman]

Boandlgramer :

You are right. The "butcher bird", which is what Wurger means, is called the Shrike in England and America. They are called this because they catch their prey, usually large insects or the occasional mouse, and "store" it by stricking on a thorn bush or locust tree. Hence, the name butcher.