Where does “大鷺” come from?

大鷺 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 大, from Old Japanese 大, from Proto-Japonic əpə — big, large; many.

大鷺 (Japanese): great egret, Ardea alba

Definitions

  1. great egret, Ardea alba

Ancestry of “大鷺”, step by step

大鷺 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 大

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese大big, large; the large part of; arch-
2Old Japanese大big, large; large
3Proto-Japonicəpəbig, large; many

via Japanese 鷺

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese鷺heron; egret
Every word from Proto-Japonic əpə →Every word from Old Japanese 大 →Every word from Japanese 大 →