Habetne Minerva bubonem? Immo, noctuam!

[Hermesianax]

In the skill "gods", we are taught that Minerva is accompanied by an owl, bubo (literally "horned owl"). This is not technically correct: the owl associated with Minerva is, in fact, the noctua, "night-owl". This owl is also called the 'little owl', which carries the scientific name Athene noctua.

[Zia177448]

People must have been fascinated by owls to have so many different terms for them!

[MissSpells]

Thankyou! Very interesting! This reminds my of the confusion I faced about learning that Harry Potter does not have a 'búho' but a 'lechuza' in Spanish.

[BasJongene]

Not to turn this discussion into a biological debate, but doesn't 'strix' also means 'owl'?

[VladaFu]

Oh yes, and one does "noctuas Athenas portare".

But bubo is certainly a useful word. Bubo bubo is a well-known species.

[ColinJParry]

Thank you for pointing the out.

[JuanGomezBernal]

Hope they change it, cause that is the beauty of Latin, full richness of words.

[clm2magee]

I'm pretty sure all owls were associated with Minerva.