[Odonata-l] The origin of the name Skimmers

[Pilon, Michel]

Hello John,
 
I'm not sure but here is my understanding of the term...
 
Here what I've found:
 
"c.1420 (skimmer, the utensil, is attested from c.1392), "to clear (a liquid) from matter floating on the surface," from O.Fr. escumer "remove scum," from escume (Fr. écume) "scum," from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. scum "scum," Ger. Schaum; see  <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=scum> scum). Hence, skim milk (1596), from which the cream has been skimmed. Meaning "to glance over carelessly" (in ref. to printed matter) first recorded 1799; that of "to move over lightly and rapidly" is from 1697. Skimmer, the N.Amer. shore bird (1785), so called from its method of feeding. "
 
As you can see a skimmer is a ustensil to skim milk by example. And you notice that a bird is called skimmer so named from its method of feeding. This is a tropical bird, related to the terns, that catches fish by flying low with its long narrow lower bill cutting the water surface.  So I imagine that the word skimmer for specific dragonflies come also by the fact that there are flying very near the water ("skim" the water!).
 
Any comments from others?    
 
 
Michel
PS. Sorry for my poor english...
 
Michel Pilon 
Sherbrooke (Québec) 
Mes Parcours Nature: 
http://parcours.pilonm.org <http://parcours.pilonm.org/>  

Quiz de chants d'oiseaux 
http://parcours.pilonm.org/cgi-bin/sonOiseaux.pl 



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From: odonata-l-bounces at listhost.ups.edu [mailto:odonata-l-bounces at listhost.ups.edu] 
Sent: October 4, 2006 12:22 AM
To: odonata-l
Subject: [Odonata-l] The origin of the name Skimmers


I'm looking for a little fact to include in a children's book on dragonflies. Anybody know where the name "Skimmers" came from?  
 
John Hudson
Juneau, AK
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