Bird of prey
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| - | Originally, the word '''''rape''''' was akin to ''rapine'', ''[[rapture]]'', ''[[Bird of prey|raptor]]'', and ''rapacious'', and referred to the more general violations, such as [[looting]], destruction, and capture of citizens that are inflicted upon a town or country during [[war]], eg. the [[Rape of Nanking]]. Today, some dictionaries still define ''rape'' to include any serious and destructive [[assault (crime)|assault]] against a person or community. | ||
| - | English ''rape'' was in use since the [[14th century]] in the general sense of "seize prey, take by force," from ''raper'', an [[Old French]] legal term for "to seize", in turn from [[Latin]] ''rapere'' "seize, carry off by force, abduct". The Latin term was also used for sexual violation, but only very rarely. The legendary event known as the "[[Rape of the Sabine Women]]", while ultimately motivated sexually, did not entail sexual violation of the Sabine women on the spot, who were rather abducted, and then implored by the Romans to marry them (as opposed to striking a deal with their fathers or brothers first, as would have been required by law). | + | '''Birds of prey''' are [[bird]]s that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as any bird that hunts other animals. Their [[claw|talon]]s and [[beak]]s tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh. In most cases, the females are considerably larger than the males. The term "'''[[raptor]]'''" is derived from the Latin word [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapio#Latin "rapere"] (meaning to seize or take by force) and may refer informally to all birds of prey, or specifically to the [[Diurnality|diurnal]] group. |
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| - | Though the sexual connotation is today dominant, the word "rape" can be used in non-sexual context in literary English. In "the rape of the [[Silmarils]]" in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s "[[The Silmarillion]]", the word "rape" is used with its old meaning of "seizing and taking away". | + | |
| - | In [[Alexander Pope]]'s ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]'', the word "rape" is used [[hyperbole|hyperbolically]], exaggerating a trivial violation against a person. Compare also the adjective ''rapacious'' which retains the generic meaning. | + | |
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| - | Sometimes, the word ''rape'' is used colloquially to [[dysphemism|dysphemistically]] describe forms of non-sexual unwelcome conduct ("My team got raped on the field yesterday"), or metaphorically as in "the rape of the Earth" referring to [[ecological health|environmental destruction]], possibly implying a female gender of the Earth ([[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]). Other than in literary usage discussed above, this use of the term is unrelated to the original sense of "abduction" or "carrying off" and implies a comparison with sexual violation. In "The [[Rape of Nanking]]" actual mass rape and mass murder is summarized by naming the city as the object of the rape. | + | |
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Revision as of 23:32, 16 November 2009
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Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as any bird that hunts other animals. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh. In most cases, the females are considerably larger than the males. The term "raptor" is derived from the Latin word "rapere" (meaning to seize or take by force) and may refer informally to all birds of prey, or specifically to the diurnal group.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Bird of prey" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
