cowfinch

cowfinch

English

Etymology

From cow +‎ finch, after bull in bullfinch.

Noun

cowfinch (plural cowfinches)

1. (rare) A female bullfinch
   • 1988, S. Baboo, Guide to Gracious Lesbian Living (Lilitha) p.20:

     The cowfinch, for example, simply acquires the song of the lesbian who tends her, whether this lesbian is a cowfinch or not.

   • 2016 Janet Shepperson Vinnie's Wilderness p.23 (Liberties Press) →ISBN

     'Do you get cowfinches?' she asked. 'Yup. Cowfinches are a sort of brownish grey, and they eat just as much blossom, but nobody notices because they're so unobtrusive.'

2. (nonce word) A rendering of Rabenfresser, a bird name invented by the character Ellie (Lorchen) in Thomas Mann's "Disorder and Early Sorrow".[1]
   • 1936 Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter, translated from the German of Thomas Mann, "Disorder and Early Sorrow" p.90 in Mario and The Magician: & other stories, Random House 2017 →ISBN

     Sometimes she teaches him, instructs him upon the birds in the picture-book and tells him their proper names: "This is a chaffinch, Buddy, this is a bullfinch, this is a cowfinch."

References

1. Unordnung und frühes leid (1930) p.24 and p.65 n.64 ed. Felix Whittmer; New York, Prentice-Hall "Oft unterrichtet sie ihn wissenschaftlich, erklärt ihm die Vögel im Bilderbuch, macht sie ihm namhaft: den Wolkenfresser, den Hagelfresser, den Rabenfresser."