Swans are
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
s of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating ...
within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the
geese
A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...
and
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
s. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
Anserinae
The Anserinae are a subfamily in the waterfowl family Anatidae. It includes the swans and true geese. Under alternative systematical concepts (see e.g., Terres & NAS, 1991), it is split into two subfamilies, the Anserinae contain the geese a ...
where they form the
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae.
There are six living and many
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
species of swan; in addition, there is a species known as the
coscoroba swan
The coscoroba swan (''Coscoroba coscoroba'') is a species of waterfowl in subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bi ...
which is no longer considered one of the true swans. Swans usually
mate for life
In biology, a pair bond is the strong affinity that develops in some species between a mating pair, often leading to the production and rearing of offspring and potentially a lifelong bond. Pair-bonding is a term coined in the 1940s that is freque ...
, although "divorce" sometimes occurs, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the remaining swan will take up with another. The number of
eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
in each
clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...
ranges from three to eight.
Etymology and terminology
The English word ''swan'', akin to the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, is derived from
Indo-European root
The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words that carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the lang ...
' ('to sound, to sing'). Young swans are known as ''
cygnets'' or as ''
swanlings''; the former derives via
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
or (diminutive suffix et 'little') from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word , a variant form of 'swan', itself from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, a word of the same meaning. An adult male is a ''cob'', from Middle English (leader of a group); an adult female is a ''pen''.
Description
![Schwanflug22](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Schwanflug22.jpg)
Swans are the largest extant members of the waterfowl family
Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating ...
, and are among the largest flying birds. The largest living species, including the
mute swan
The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home ...
,
trumpeter swan
The trumpeter swan (''Cygnus buccinator'') is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 250 cm (6 ft 2 in to 8 ft 2 ...
, and
whooper swan
The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/) (''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, pronounced ''hooper swan'', is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type specie ...
, can reach a length of over and weigh over . Their wingspans can be over .
Compared to the closely related geese, they are much larger and have proportionally larger feet and necks.
Adults also have a patch of unfeathered skin between the eyes and bill. The sexes are alike in
plumage
Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...
, but males are generally bigger and heavier than females.
[ The biggest species of swan ever was the extinct '']Cygnus falconeri
''Cygnus falconeri'', the giant swan, ( Maltese: ) is an extinct, very large swan known from Middle Pleistocene-aged deposits from Malta and Sicily. Its dimensions are described as exceeding those of the living mute swan by one-third, which wo ...
'', a flightless giant swan known from fossils found on the Mediterranean islands of Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
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, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. Its disappearance is thought to have resulted from extreme climate fluctuations or the arrival of superior predators and competitors.
The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white plumage, but the Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black and white. The Australian black swan
The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...
(''Cygnus atratus'') is completely black except for the white flight feathers on its wings; the chicks of black swans are light grey. The South American black-necked swan
The black-necked swan (''Cygnus melancoryphus'') is a species of waterfowl in tribe Cygnini of subfamily Anserinae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bird ...
has a white body with a black neck.
Swans' legs are normally a dark blackish grey colour, except for the South American black-necked swan, which has pink legs. Bill colour varies: the four subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...
species have black bills with varying amounts of yellow, and all the others are patterned red and black. Although birds do not have teeth, swans, like other Anatidae, have beaks with serrated edges that look like small jagged 'teeth' as part of their beaks used for catching and eating aquatic plants and algae, but also molluscs, small fish, frogs, and worms. In the mute swan and black-necked swan, both sexes have a fleshy lump at the base of their bills on the upper mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...
, known as knob, which is larger in males, and is condition dependent, changing seasonally.
Distribution and movements
Swans are generally found in temperate environments, rarely occurring in the tropics. A group of swans is called a bevy or a wedge in flight. Four (or five) species occur in the Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
, one species is found in Australia, one extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
species was found in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...
, and one species is distributed in southern South America. They are absent from tropical Asia, Central America, northern South America and the entirety of Africa. One species, the mute swan, has been introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Several species are migratory, either wholly or partly so. The mute swan is a partial migrant, being resident over areas of Western Europe but wholly migratory in Eastern Europe and Asia. The whooper swan and tundra swan are wholly migratory, and the trumpeter swans are almost entirely migratory. There is some evidence that the black-necked swan is migratory over part of its range, but detailed studies have not established whether these movements are long or short range migration.
Behaviour
Swans feed in water and on land. They are almost entirely herbivorous, although they may eat small amounts of aquatic animals. In the water, food is obtained by up-ending or dabbling, and their diet is composed of the roots, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic and submerged plants.
Swans famously mate for life, and typically bond even before they reach sexual maturity. Trumpeter swans, for example, who can live as long as 24 years and only start breeding at the age of 4–7, form monogamous pair bond
In biology, a pair bond is the strong affinity that develops in some species between a mating pair, often leading to the production and rearing of offspring and potentially a lifelong bond. Pair-bonding is a term coined in the 1940s that is freque ...
s as early as 20 months. "Divorce", though rare, does occur; one study of mute swans showing a 3% rate for pairs that breed successfully and 9% for pairs that do not. The pair bonds are maintained year-round, even in gregarious and migratory species like the tundra swan
The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and th ...
, which congregate in large flocks in the wintering grounds.
Swans' nests are on the ground near water and about a metre across. Unlike many other ducks and geese, the male helps with the nest construction, and will also take turns incubating the eggs. Alongside the whistling duck
The whistling ducks or tree ducks are a subfamily, Dendrocygninae, of the duck, goose and swan family of birds, Anatidae. In other taxonomic schemes, they are considered a separate family, Dendrocygnidae. Some taxonomists list only one genu ...
s, swans are the only anatids that will do this. Average egg size (for the mute swan) is 113×74 mm, weighing 340 g, in a clutch size of 4 to 7, and an incubation period of 34–45 days.["Mute Swan"](_blank)
British Trust for Ornithology
Swans are highly protective of their nests. They will viciously attack anything that they perceive as a threat to their chicks, including humans. One man was suspected to have drowned in such an attack. Swans' intraspecific aggressive behaviour is shown more frequent than interspecific behaviour for food and shelter. The aggression with other species is shown more in Bewick's swans.
Systematics and evolution
Evidence suggests that the genus ''Cygnus'' evolved in Europe or western Eurasia during the Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
, spreading all over the Northern Hemisphere until the Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58[biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...](_blank)
and appearance of the subgenus
In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.
In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...
''Olor'' it seems likely that these are of a more recent origin, as evidence shows by their modern ranges (which were mostly uninhabitable during the last ice age) and great similarity between the taxa.
Phylogeny
Species
Genus ''Cygnus''
The coscoroba swan
The coscoroba swan (''Coscoroba coscoroba'') is a species of waterfowl in subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bi ...
(''Coscoroba coscoroba'') from South America, the only species in its genus, is apparently not a true swan. Its phylogenetic position is not fully resolved; it is in some aspects more similar to geese
A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...
and shelduck
The shelducks, most species of which are found in the genus ''Tadorna'' (except for the Radjah shelduck, which is now found in its own monotypic genus ''Radjah''), are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biologi ...
s.
Fossil record
The fossil record
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...
of the genus ''Cygnus'' is quite impressive, although allocation to the subgenera is often tentative; as indicated above, at least the early forms probably belong to the ''C. olor'' – Southern Hemisphere lineage, whereas the Pleistocene taxa from North America would be placed in ''Olor''. A number of prehistoric species have been described, mostly from the Northern Hemisphere. In the Mediterranean, the leg bones of the giant swan ('' C. falconeri'') were found on the islands of Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
; it may have been over 2 meters from tail to bill, which was taller (though not heavier) than the contemporary local dwarf elephants (''Palaeoloxodon falconeri
''Palaeoloxodon falconeri'', also known as the pygmy elephant, Maltese pygmy elephant, or Sicilian dwarf elephant, is an extinct Siculo- Maltese species of elephant that was derived from the straight-tusked elephant. It is amongst the smallest of ...
'').
* Subgenus ''Chenopis''
**† New Zealand swan, ''Cygnus sumnerensis'', an extinct species related to the black swan of Australia
* Other subgenera (see above):
**†''Cygnus csakvarensis'' Lambrecht 1933 [''Cygnus csákvárensis'' Lambrecht 1931a nomen nudum; ''Cygnanser csakvarensis'' (Lambrecht 1933) Kretzoi 1957; ''Olor csakvarensis'' (Lambrecht 1933) Mlíkovský 1992b] (Late Miocene of Hungary)
**†''Cygnus mariae'' Bickart 1990 (Early Pliocene of Wickieup, U.S.)
**†''Cygnus verae'' Boev 2000 (Early Pliocene of Sofia, Bulgaria)
**†''Cygnus liskunae'' (Kuročkin 1976) Kuročkin 1976">'Anser liskunae'' Kuročkin 1976(Middle Pliocene of western Mongolia)
**†''Cygnus hibbardi'' Brodkorb 1958 (?Early Pleistocene of Idaho, U.S.)
**†''Cygnus'' sp. Louchart ''et al''. 1998 (Early Pleistocene of Dursunlu, Turkey)
**†Giant swan
''Cygnus falconeri'', the giant swan, ( Maltese: ) is an extinct, very large swan known from Middle Pleistocene-aged deposits from Malta and Sicily. Its dimensions are described as exceeding those of the living mute swan by one-third, which woul ...
(''Cygnus falconeri'') Parker 1865 sensu Livezey 1997a Falconer 1868; ''Palaeocygnus falconeri'' (Parker 1865) Oberholser 1908">'Cygnus melitensis'' Falconer 1868; ''Palaeocygnus falconeri'' (Parker 1865) Oberholser 1908(Middle Pleistocene of Malta and Sicily, Mediterranean)
**†''Cygnus paloregonus
''Cygnus paloregonus'' is a fossil swan. It is an ancestor of, and distantly allied to, the mute swan. It is known from the Pleistocene from Fossil Lake, Oregon, Froman's Ferry, Idaho, and from Arizona. It is referred to by Hildegarde Howard ...
'' Cope 1878 Schufeldt 1892; ''Cygnus matthewi'' Schufeldt 1913">'Anser condoni'' Schufeldt 1892; ''Cygnus matthewi'' Schufeldt 1913(Middle Pleistocene of west-central U.S.)
**†Dwarf swan
Dwarf or dwarves may refer to:
Common uses
*Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore
* Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...
(''Cygnus equitum'') Bate 1916 sensu Livezey 1997 (Bate 1916) Brodkorb 1964; ''Cygnus'' (''Olor'') ''equitum'' Bate 1916 sensu Northcote 1988a">'Anser equitum'' (Bate 1916) Brodkorb 1964; ''Cygnus'' (''Olor'') ''equitum'' Bate 1916 sensu Northcote 1988a(Middle – Late Pleistocene of Malta and Sicily, Mediterranean)
**†''Cygnus lacustris'' (De Vis 1905) De Vis 1905">'Archaeocycnus lacustris'' De Vis 1905(Late Pleistocene of the Lake Eyre region, Australia)
**†''Cygnus'' sp. (Pleistocene of Australia)
**†''Cygnus atavus'' (Fraas 1870) Mlíkovský 1992 [''Anas atava'' Fraas 1870; ''Anas cygniformis'' Fraas 1870; ''Palaelodus steinheimensis'' Fraas 1870; ''Anser atavus'' (Fraas 1870) Lambrecht 1933; ''Anser cygniformis'' (Fraas 1870) Lambrecht 1933]
* Other genera
**† ''Annakacygna''
The supposed fossil swans ''"Cygnus" bilinicus'' and ''"Cygnus" herrenthalsi'' were, respectively, a stork and some large bird of unknown affinity (due to the bad state of preservation of the referred material).
In culture
European motifs
Many of the cultural aspects refer to the mute swan of Europe. Perhaps the best known story about a swan is the fable "The Ugly Duckling
"The Ugly Duckling" ( da, Den grimme ælling) is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. Fir ...
". Swans are often a symbol of love or fidelity because of their long-lasting, apparently monogamous relationships. See Wagner's famous swan-related operas ''Lohengrin
Lohengrin () is a character in Germany, German Arthurian literature. The son of Percival, Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which fi ...
'' and ''Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...
''.
As food
Swan meat was regarded as a luxury food in England in the reign of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
. A recipe for baked swan survives from that time: "To bake a Swan Scald it and take out the bones, and parboil it, then season it very well with Pepper, Salt and Ginger, then lard it, and put it in a deep Coffin of Rye Paste with store of Butter, close it and bake it very well, and when it is baked, fill up the Vent-hole with melted Butter, and so keep it; serve it in as you do the Beef-Pie."
The ''Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady The Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady (Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap) was a religious confraternity founded in 1318 in 's-Hertogenbosch to promote the veneration of the Mother of God. The brotherhood was organized around a carved wood ...
'', a religious confraternity
A confraternity ( es, cofradía; pt, confraria) is generally a Christian voluntary association of laypeople created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy. They are most c ...
which existed in 's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...
in the late Middle Ages, had 'sworn members', also called 'swan-brethren' because they used to donate a swan for the yearly banquet.
Heraldics
Ancient Greece and Rome
Swans feature strongly in mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
. In Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, the story of Leda and the Swan
Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces or rapes Leda. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the sa ...
recounts that Helen of Troy
Helen of Troy, Helen, Helena, (Ancient Greek: Ἑλένη ''Helénē'', ) also known as beautiful Helen, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believe ...
was conceived in a union of Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D ...
disguised as a swan and Leda
Leda may refer to:
Mythology
* Leda (mythology), queen of Sparta and mother of Helen of Troy in Greek mythology
Places
* Leda, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia
* Leda makeshift settlement, Bangladesh, a refugee camp ...
, Queen of Sparta
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
.
Other references in classical literature include the belief that, upon death, the mute swan would sing beautifully—hence the phrase swan song
The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful so ...
.
The mute swan is also one of the sacred birds of Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
, whose associations stem both from the nature of the bird as a symbol of light, as well as the notion of a "swan song". The god is often depicted riding a chariot pulled by or composed of swans in his ascension from Delos
The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...
.
In the second century, the Roman poet Juvenal
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...
made a sarcastic reference to a good woman being a "rare bird, as rare on earth as a black swan" (black swans being completely unknown in the Northern Hemisphere until Dutch explorers reached Australia in the 1600s), from which comes the Latin phrase ' (rare bird).
‘Black Swan’ event
The Black Swan theory
The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. The term is based on ...
originates from Juvenal’s reference, leading to the black swan as a metaphor for something that could, in theory, exist, but does not. After the "discovery" of actual black swans, this became a metaphor or analogy for something, typically an unexpected event or outlier
In statistics, an outlier is a data point that differs significantly from other observations. An outlier may be due to a variability in the measurement, an indication of novel data, or it may be the result of experimental error; the latter are ...
, that has an unforeseen significance.
Irish lore and poetry
The Irish legend of the Children of Lir
The ''Children of Lir'' ( ga, Oidheadh chloinne Lir) is a legend from Irish mythology. It is a tale from the post-Christianisation period that mixes magical elements such as druidic wands and spells with a Christian message of Christian faith ...
is about a stepmother transforming her children into swans for 900 years.
In the legend ''The Wooing of Etain
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'', the king of the Sidhe (subterranean-dwelling, supernatural beings) transforms himself and the most beautiful woman in Ireland, Etain, into swans to escape from the king of Ireland and Ireland's armies. The swan has recently been depicted on an Irish commemorative coin.
Swans are also present in Irish literature in the poetry of W.B. Yeats. "The Wild Swans at Coole" has a heavy focus on the mesmerising characteristics of the swan. Yeats also recounts the myth of Leda and the Swan in the poem of the same name.
Nordic lore
In Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, there are two swans that drink from the sacred Well of Urd in the realm of Asgard
In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr'' ; "enclosure of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in a multitude of Old Norse sagas and mythological texts. It is described as the fortified home of the Æsir ...
, home of the gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...
. According to the Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...
, the water of this well is so pure and holy that all things that touch it turn white, including this original pair of swans and all others descended from them. The poem '' Volundarkvida'', or the ''Lay of Volund'', part of the Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic me ...
, also features swan maidens.
In the Finnish epic ''Kalevala
The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...
'', a swan lives in the Tuoni river located in Tuonela
Tuonela (; )Oinas, Felix J., and Juha Pentikäinen. "Tuonela." In ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', 2nd ed., edited by Lindsay Jones, 9396-9397. Vol. 14. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. ''Gale eBooks'' (accessed January 3, 2021)/ref> i ...
, the underworld realm of the dead. According to the story, whoever killed a swan would perish as well. Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...
composed the ''Lemminkäinen Suite
The ''Lemminkäinen Suite'' (also named ''Four Legends'' or ''Four Legends from the Kalevala''), Op. 22, is a four-movement symphonic poem for orchestra completed in 1895 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece was originally conceived ...
'' based on the ''Kalevala'', with the second piece entitled ''Swan of Tuonela
''The Swan of Tuonela'' (') is an 1895 tone poem by the Finland, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It is part of the '' (Four Legends from the Kalevala)'', Op. 22, based on the Finnish mythology, Finnish mythological epic poetry, epic the ''Kaleva ...
'' ''(Tuonelan joutsen)''. Today, five flying swans are the symbol of the Nordic countries
The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...
; the whooper swan (''Cygnus cygnus'') is the national bird of Finland; and the mute swan is the national bird of Denmark.
''Swan Lake'' ballet
The ballet ''Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...
'' is among the most canonic of classical ballets. Based on the 1875–76 score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
, the most promulgated choreographic version was created by Marius Petipa
Marius Ivanovich Petipa (russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818), was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters an ...
and Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (russian: link=no, Лев Ива́нович Ива́нов; 2 March 1834, Moscow – 24 December 1901, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet. ...
(1895), the premiere of which was danced by the Imperial Ballet at the Mariinsky Theater
The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...
in St. Petersburg. The ballet's lead dual roles of Odette (white swan) / Odile (black swan) represent good and evil, and are among the most challenging roles created in Romantic classical ballet. The ballet is in the repertories of ballet companies around the world.
Christianity
A swan is one of the attributes of St. Hugh of Lincoln
Hugh of Lincoln, O.Cart. ( – 16 November 1200), also known as Hugh of Avalon, was a French-born Benedictine and Carthusian monk, bishop of Lincoln in the Kingdom of England, and Catholic saint. His feast is observed by Catholics on 16 Novem ...
, based on the story of a swan who was devoted to him.
Spanish language literature
In Latin American literature
Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the ...
, the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as ''modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
(1867–1916) consecrated the swan as a symbol of artistic inspiration by drawing attention to the constancy of swan imagery in Western culture
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
, beginning with the rape of Leda and ending with Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''Lohengrin''. Darío's most famous poem in this regard is ''Blasón – "Coat of Arms"'' (1896), and his use of the swan made it a symbol for the Modernismo
''Modernismo'' is a literary movement that took place primarily during the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century in the Spanish-speaking world, best exemplified by Rubén Darío who is also known as the father of ''Modernismo''. The ter ...
poetic movement that dominated Spanish language poetry from the 1880s until the First World War. Such was the dominance of Modernismo in Spanish language poetry that the Mexican poet Enrique González Martínez
Enrique González Martínez (April 13, 1871 in Guadalajara, Jalisco – February 19, 1952 in Mexico City) was a Mexican poet, diplomat, surgeon and obstetrician. His poetry is considered to be primarily Modernist in nature, with elements of Fre ...
attempted to announce the end of Modernismo with a sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
provocatively entitled, '' Tuércele el cuello al cisne – "Wring the Swan's Neck"'' (1910).
Hinduism
Swans are revered in Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, and are compared to saintly persons whose chief characteristic is to be in the world without getting attached to it, just as a swan's feather does not get wet although it is in water. The Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word for swan is ''hamsa'' and the "Raja Hamsam" or the Royal Swan is the vehicle of Devi Saraswati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...
, which symbolises the ''Sattva Guna'' or purity par excellence. The swan, if offered a mixture of milk and water, is said to be able to drink the milk alone. Therefore, Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, is seen riding the swan because the swan thus symbolizes ''Viveka'', i.e. prudence and discrimination between the good and the bad or between the eternal and the transient. This is seen as a great quality, as shown by this Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
verse:
It is mentioned several times in the Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
literature, and persons who have attained great spiritual capabilities are sometimes called Paramahamsa
Paramahamsa (Sanskrit: परमहंस, Bengali: পরমহংস, romanized: Pôromohôṅso; pronounced ɔromoɦɔŋʃo, also spelled paramahansa or paramhansa, is a Sanskrit religio-theological title of honour applied to Hindu spiritual ...
("Supreme Swan") on account of their spiritual grace and ability to travel between various spiritual worlds. In the Vedas, swans are said to reside in the summer on Lake Manasarovar
Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The l ...
and migrate to Indian lakes for the winter. They are believed to possess some powers, such as the ability to eat pearls.
Indo-European religions
Swans are intimately associated with the divine twins
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
in Indo-European religions, and it is thought that in Proto-Indo-European times, swans were a solar symbol associated with the divine twins and the original Indo-European sun goddess
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...
.
See also
* Royal Swans The Royal Swans are a Flock (birds), flock of swans of two species—the mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') and the black swan (''C. atratus'')—the original six pairs of which were a gift to the city of Ottawa from Queen Elizabeth II in 1967, to commemor ...
References
External links
*
* Louchart, Antoine; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Guleç, Erksin; Howell, Francis Clark & White, Tim D. (1998): L'avifaune de Dursunlu, Turquie, Pléistocène inférieur: climat, environnement et biogéographie. '' C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris IIA'' 327(5): 341–346. rench with English abridged version
The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau ( Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of the ...
A History of British Birds
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{{Authority control
Anserinae
Extant Miocene first appearances
Taxa named by François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault