Also 7 terne. [Of Norse origin: cf. Da. terne, Sw. tärna, Norw. and Færo terna:—ON. þerna, the tem or sea swallow.
Some consider tern to be related to stearn, stern, which occurs in OE. as a bird-name, and, in the form starn, is a name in E.Anglia of the Common and the Black Tern; it is mentioned by W. Turner Avium præcipuarum historia, 1544, as ‘nostrati lingua sterna appellata,’ whence Linnæus took Sterna as a generic name.]
The common name of a group of sea-birds of the genus Sterna, or sub-family Sterninæ, akin to the gulls, but having generally a more slender body, long pointed wings, and a forked tail; a sea swallow.
Of the species, which are widely diffused from Arctic to extreme southern coasts, the British Museum Catalogue reckons more than 50, of which 33 are placed in the genus Sterna, and about 18 distributed in ten other genera. Or these, six are considered indigenous to the British coasts, and many more to those of N. America. The Common Tern of Britain and N. America is Sterna hirundo (or fluviatilis); the Sandwich T., the largest British species, now scarce, is S. cantiaca; the Arctic T., S. macrura; the Roseate T., S. dougalli; the Little T., S. minuta; the Black Tern, Hydrochelidon (formerly Sterna) nigra.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 352. This [Black Tern, Sterna nigra] is also the brown Tern of Mr. Johnson. Ibid., 353. In the Northern parts they call them Terns, whence Turner calls them in Latine, Sternæ.
1785. Latham, Gen. Syn., III. II. 356. Sandwich Tern…. This species is pretty common on the coasts of Kent.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ella of Gar., iii. The terns and gulls screaming.
1888. Newton, in Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 189/1. The Sandwich Tern, S. sandvicensis or S. cantiaca … is the largest of the British species.
