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Possibly from tinniō(“to shriek”, verb) + -unculus(diminutive) if the reading tinn- is correct. Manuscripts show variation in the form of the word. Lindsay 1918 argues that the correct reading is titi- (found in a manuscript of Columella but not of Pliny) and derives the word from an n-stem noun *titiō, titiōn- built on the root of titus(“wood pigeon”), comparing Romance words for woodpigeon descended from *titō, titōn- such as Sardiniantidu, tidone, totoni; Siciliantuduni, tutuni, Maltesetudun.[1]
Genus accipitris tinnunculum vocant rustici, qui fere in aedificiis nidos facit. Eius pulli singuli fictilibus ollis conduntur, spirantibusque opercula superponuntur, et gypso lita vasa in angulis columbariis suspenduntur: quae res avibus amorem loci sic conciliat, ne unquam deserant.
1941 translation by Harrison Boyd Ash
There is a kind of hawk which the country-folk call a tinnunculus (kestrel) and which generally makes its nest in buildings. The young of this bird are enclosed separately in earthenware pots, and while they are still breathing, lids are put over the pots which are smeared with plaster and hung up in the corners of the pigeon-houses. This induces in the birds such a love for the place that they never desert it.
Ob id cum his habenda est avis quae tinnungulus vocatur; defendit enim illas terretque accipitres naturali potentia in tantum ut visum vocemque eius fugiant. Hac de causa praecipuus columbis amor eorum, feruntque, si in quattuor angulis defodiantur in ollis novis oblitis, non mutare sedem columbas
1940 translation by H. Rackham
For that reason the bird called kestrel must be classed with these; for it defends the pigeons, and scares the hawks by its natural powerfulness so much that they fly from sight and sound of it. For this reason wood-pigeons have a special love for kestrels, and they say that if kestrels put in new jars with their mouths sealed up are hidden in the four corners of the dovecot the pigeons do not change their abode
