amber@scott.stat.washington.edu (Amber Tatnall) (08/25/89)
From "The Dictionary of American Bird Names" by Ernest A. Choate, (Boston: Gambit, 1987). page 37. HERON: Middle English heroun, heiron, harn; Old French hairon; High German heiger, "heron". Italian aghirone, "heron", is credited with contributing to the final sylable. "Hern" is found in place names, surnames, crossword puzzles and in poetry. "Heronshaw" or "hernshaw" according to Skeat should mean a young heron and by confusion, a heronry. This is due to a false popular etymology: English "heron", "a heron" and "shaw", "a wood". We are now able to understand the old taunt, "not able to tell a hawk from a handsaw" (Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2). A handsaw was not a tool for cutting wood but an end product of linguistic mutilation from Old French "herounceau" from older "herouncel", the -ceau and -cel being diminutive, "a young heron". So it seems reasonable in the days when falconry was a popular sport to consider anyone who confused a hawk with a heron to be rather dimwitted.