Grus

Grus is a genus of large birds in the crane family. The Latin word grus and English word crane are cognates as Klein explains: crane, from Middle English crane, crone, Middle High German krone, Old English cranoc, cornoc, German Kranich, 'crane', and cognate with Greek geranos, Cornish, Welsh, Breton garan, 'crane', Latin grus, 'crane', from the Indo-European imitative base *gere-², 'to utter a hoarse cry'. Related words: the first element in cranberry, geranium, Gruiformes (order Gruiformes, the coots, cranes, and rails), and the last element in pedigree.

“Cranes (grus) took their name from their particular call, for they whoop with such a sound. When they fly, they follow a leader in formation like a letter (i.e. Greek lambda, an upside down V shape). Concerning them Lucan says (Civil War 5-716): And the letter-shape is disturbed and lost in their scattered flight. They seek the heights, from which they can more easily see which lands to make for. The one leading the flock chides with its voice, but, when it begins to grow hoarse, another crane takes its place. At night they divide up the watches, and alternate their vigils; they hold stones in their extended claws to let it be known if they fall asleep - the noise (i.e. of the stones dropping) indicates the need to be on the alert. Their color reveals their age, for they turn black as they grow old.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.264.]

"Cranes are the exotic dancers of the bird kingdom. Their gyrations have been compared to the antics of fervent pioneer preachers leading their congregations" [1].

"Ancient Romans called cranes grues, apparently from the sound of their calls which formed the root of the word 'congruence,' from congruere, meaning to agree, and which also reflected highly coordinated and cooperative behavior typical of cranes" [source lost]. The word congruent comes from the Indo-European root *ghreu- 'To rub, grind'. Derivatives: grit, groats, grout, gruel, grueling, great, groat, gruesome, chroma (color), chromatic, chromato-, chrome, -chrome, chromium, chromo-, chromosome, gravel, congruent, congruence. [Pokorny 2. ghreu- 460. Watkins] 

The word 'pedigree' comes from the Old French phrase, 'pie de grue', which means 'foot of a crane', as the pedigree diagram (symbol /|\) resembles the branches coming out of a crane's foot [2]. The association of the word pedigree with cranes might relate to the chromosomes (from *ghreu-) which carry the genes or genetic information, coiled threadlike structures of DNA, and found in the nucleus of all plant and animal cells. Cranes are reported to post sentries while they sleep, the sentry, standing on one foot, holding a stone (gravel?) in its claw, if it fell asleep the stone dropped and woke the bird. Cranes fill themselves with ballast (coarse gravel or crushed rock) to avoid being blown off course when migrating on their long grueling journey. Cranes start breeding around four years of age (?), and would live long enough to see their great-grandchildren and their great-great-grandchildren, etc.

The Trojans were compared to migrating cranes. The Trojans were always at war with the Pygmies (might be adjacent Sculptor), the word gruesome might describe the savage battles:

"The Iliad compares the noisy Trojan warriors to shrieking cranes descending upon the silent Pygmy soldiers (the Greeks or Achaeans) in the following passage: "The Trojans came with cries and the din of war like wildfowl when the long hoarse cries of cranes sweep on against the sky and the great formations flee from winter's grim ungodly storms, flying in force, shrieking south to the ocean gulfs, speeding blood and death to the Pygmy warriors, launching at daybreak savage battle down upon their heads" [3]. 

In every land where they appear cranes have always been a symbol of longevity. For cranes living in the wild an age of up to 60 years has been cited, and there is one record of a captive Siberian crane living for 83 years and fathering chicks at age 78. By comparison swans only live to around thirty years. The partly gray feathers of cranes, and some species having predominantly gray feathers, might symbolically suggest aging. Geranos is the Greek for crane and geras, from where we get the word geriatrics, is old age, geron, 'old man', gerus, 'old woman; wrinkled skin', from Indo-European root *gere-¹ 'To grow old'. Derivatives: ageratum (a-, without; + geras, old age; a plant that is called ageless or everlasting), geriatrics (from Greek geras, old age), geronto- (from Greek geron, stem geront-, old man), progeria (aging disease). [Pokorny ger- 390. Watkins]

Klein says the word Zoroaster from Avestic Zarathushtra, literally 'whose camels are old', from *zarant, 'old', and ushtra, 'camel', *zarant is cognate with Greek geron, 'old man'.

"Horapollo, the grammarian of Alexandria, about A.D. 400, tells us that the crane was the symbol of a star-observer in Egypt, presumably from its high flight" [Allen, Star Names], or maybe from a habit of looking up at the sky as a number of pictures of cranes on this website show? The term 'Magos' was used in the Hellenistic world rather loosely for astrologers, astronomers, and magicians (there was no distinction in the Hellenistic era drawn between astrology and astronomy) [4]. The magus were the Zoroastrian priestly caste of the Medes and Persians [5]. Magi is used in English for the three 'Wise Men' who visited the infant Christ.

“The first interpreters of the stars were called Magi (magus), as we read of those who made known the birth of Christ in the Gospels; afterwards they only had the name mathematicus.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.183.]

A crane, meaning also 'a machine for raising weights' is so called from the long neck of the instrument. In Greek and Roman theatre, a crane was used as a stage prop to create the special effects of flying characters, it could lift actors into the air portraying the appearance of gods in flight, hence the Latin term deus ex machina ('god from the machine'). It was usually known as the mechane ('machine'), but also known as the geranos ('crane') or krade ('branch') [6] [see picture].

The words mechane, and magus, come from the Indo-European root *magh-¹ 'To be able, have power'. Derivatives: may¹ (from Old English mæg, to be strong, be able), dismay (to deprive of might or the power to act as a result of fear or anxiety), might¹ (power), almighty, main (most important, from Old English mægen), machine, mechanic, mechanism, mechano-, magic, magus, (these words from Old Persian magu, member of a priestly caste < 'mighty one'). [Pokorny magh- 695. Watkins]

Cranes have elaborate courting displays or 'dances'. In mythology the Crane Dance called Geranos, was performed by Theseus after his escape from the Labyrinth. Theseus had used a ball of thread to find his way out of the Labyrinth, and the dance he performed with the Athenians who escaped with him was an imitation of the windings of the Labyrinth. The ball of thread might relate to the chromosomes which carry the genes, they are coiled, threadlike structures of DNA? and why the word pedigree is related to 'crane' and 'grus'. The Labyrinth (see Hercules) is also the term for a system of fluid passages in the inner ear, including both the cochlea which is part of the auditory system, and the vestibular system which provides the sense of balance. It is named by analogy with the mythical maze that imprisoned the Minotaur, because of its appearance [7]. [The word ear (auris) might be adjacent Pisces Australis and Grus was once part of that constellation.] There are Mechanoreceptors in the cochlea of the ear that detect sounds and the motion of the body. Sound is a mechanical wave, meaning it produces vibrational energy in the medium through which it moves, such as air. The crane standing on one leg might also suggest something to do with balance. [Hercules whose name might be resolved into 'listening in the air' performed twelve labors, and the word 'labyrinth' may be related to 'labor' as explained on Hercules' page].  

© Anne Wright 2008.