An archaic or dialectal term for a heron, a large wading bird, possibly derived from or related to 'hern' with an additional suffix or variant form.
From Old English 'hern' (heron) + '-shaw' (from Old English 'sceaga' meaning small wood or thicket). The combination might suggest a heron of the woods or wetlands, or may have evolved through dialectal variation.
Hernshaw shows how the same animal could have multiple names across different English regions—it's a reminder that before modern standardization, English dialects were incredibly diverse, with almost every creature having five different names!
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