Derivation and original application uncertain: in Swedish brandgås (Icelandic brandgás only in the Þulur) is the sheldrake or bergander; in German, brandgans is according to some the sheldrake, but with Grimm = Anser fuscus, the Black or Velvet Duck; in English, brant, brant-goose was long confounded with the barnacle goose. Early naturalists (Gesner, Aldrovandus, etc.) were content to derive the name < βρένθος an unidentified water-bird mentioned by Aristotle; later etymologists have suggested brended or branded adj., brindled, and brand n. fire, burning, perhaps in sense of dusky black, or sooty colour; but in the absence of knowledge where the name arose, and to what bird it was originally applied, nothing can be determined.
The smallest species of wild goose ( Bernicla brenta) breeding in high northern latitudes, and visiting the British coasts in winter. Formerly confounded with the allied Barnacle-goose. (OED)
"A flock of brants on the water croaked their creaky calls, ring-billed gulls on the breeze teetered like skateboarders, two swans groomed themselves at the water's edge."
- Ian Frazier, "Back to the Harbor: Seals return to New York", 21 March 2011 The New Yorker
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