Tag: bird etymology

By Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D, June 30, 2026 My mother’s maiden name is Kukulski. In Polish, kukułka means “cuckoo,” and the name carries bird-sound inside it: kuku, kuku. Before the cuckoo became a symbol, before some members of its family evolved brood parasitism, before people made it a marker of seasons, it was a voice…