Geier

Geier is a German word for vulture. Some authorities suggest there is some uncertainty whether the Geier is a vulture or an eagle, but the former is the predominating view. Geier is also a common surname. Confusion about the ornithological meanings of "Geier" as a species or family of birds have also led to confusion about the meaning of the surname "Geier".

Ornithological Meanings of "Geier"

The modern German term Geier generally is recognized as referring to two distinct families of carrion-eating bird whose range includes the whole of Europe and the western part of Asia. The term Geier refers both to birds from the genus Old World vulture (Aegypiinae) and the family New World vulture (Cathartidae).

The word Geier has been associated with both the Gyrfalcon and the Lammergeier although neither is synonymous with “Geier”. This has led to taxonomic confusion. Some authorities actually proclaimed uncertainty whether the Geier is a vulture or an eagle, and older dictionaries used the terms “Geier”, “Gyrfalcon” and “Lammergeier”, almost interchangeably, e.g. Webster's 1913 Dictionary, *[1]). The word “Gyrfalcon” is also sometimes rendered as "Geir eagle", as in *[2]), although the predominating modern Gyrfalcon is a member of the falcon family and is not an eagle.

These inaccurate and misleading conflations of terms resulted from reliance on imprecise Biblical translations rather than on direct anatomical or behavioral observations of the bird species themselves. In Biblical usage (see Leviticus xi, 13; Deuteronomy xiv, 17), the term "Gyrfalcon" referred to an unclean bird, most likely an Egyptian vulture, rather than to the modern Gyrfalcon, and did not refer to a falcon or an eagle. The Biblical references to "Gyrfalcon" (or sometimes "Gierfalcon") probably were a misinterpretation of a Hebrew term more properly translated either as Egyptian vulture or Lammergeier, the latter also known as the "lamb-vulture" or the "bone-breaker vulture", or historically as the "bone crusher" or Ossifrage). See *[3] and *[4].

Taxonomic confusion also resulted from the physical appearance of the Lammergeier. Because the head of the Lammergeier, unlike all other vultures, is feathered rather than naked, it bears a resemblance to the eagle or condor. These qualities led some to poets to assume that the term Geier refers to a form of eagle or falcon, rather than a vulture, a matter that was commented upon in the article by Harriet C. Stanton, Poets and Birds: a Criticism, The Atlantic monthly. / Volume 52, Issue 311, September 1883. *[5] Nonetheless, some modern authorities continue the view that the Lammergeier "is more closely allied with the eagles than with the vultures". *[6] The Indian Vulture, another true vulture species recently recategorized as critically endangered, also is described as having a distinctly "eagle-like bearing" in contrast to most other vulture species. *[7]

The modern taxonomic distinction between the families of eagles or falcons and the families of vultures should eliminate any uncertainty over the respective meanings of the term Geier. The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) and the Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus) are true carrion-eating vultures. The modern Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) is a distinct species of falcon (the largest of the falcon family), and is not a vulture. The modifier, "Gyr", “Gier” or "Geier" preceding the word "falcon" is a reference to the large size of the bird rather than to its genus or family.

"Geier" as a Surname

Geier is a common surname in Germany and somewhat less common among German-American people. The surname Geier is often considered to be interchangeable with Geyer, although some sources ascribe a different origin and meaning to the two surnames. The surname "Geyer" and its normal German spelling "Geier" are primarily associated with the word "vulture", sometimes in a perjorative sense (as in "nickname for a greedy or rapacious person, from Middle High and Middle Low German gir(e) ‘large bird of prey’, ‘vulture’ "). When affixed to a Jewish family, the surname "Geier" is thought by some to have been taken from the Yiddish word "Geyer", which means "peddler", and it is assumed that the term was involuntarily affixed to Jewish peasants when last names became mandatory in Europe as a form of deprecatory wordplay connoting a scheming merchant who takes advantage of the cupidity of others, as in "vulture". See *[8]. The etymological confusion associated with ornithological use of the term "Geier" also has affected family coats of arms and traditions concerning family origins of those bearing the Geier surname. Some families associate the Geier surname with the eagle (as in the "Eagle's Nest" coat of arms) while others appropriately associate the surname with the carrion-eating, bone-crushing variety of vulture. *[9]. See also *[10].

Noteable Persons and Usages of “Geier”

Florian Geier

The most notorious historical personage bearing the name Geier was Florian Geier, commonly known as Florian Geyer, a German nobleman who sided with the peasants in the Peasants War in the early 1500s and led the ill-fated Black Company of song and fable. See Friedrich Engels, The Peasant War in Germany, passim.

Phil Geier

One professional baseball player bearing the Geier surname is recorded--Phil Geier, who played for several major league teams between 1896 and 1904. *[11]; *[12].

Ship Names

Several ships of German registry have borne the name Geier. These included: 1. The Geier, 1916-1917, a captured British freighter named St. Theodore, which was scuttled by the Germans near the end of World War I. *[13]. 2. The SMS Geier, a German sloop which put into the supposedly neutral United States port at Honolulu, Hawaii, at the onset of World War I, but was there taken by the United States cruiser USS St. Louis, and after a protracted international legal dispute, re-commissioned in the United States Navy as the USS Schurz and eventually sunk following a collision off the coast of North Carolina. *[14] 3. The Geier, a German patrol boat carrying a crew of 40, currently in the 7th Fast Patrol Boat (FPB) Squadron and scheduled to be sold to the Tunisian Navy. *[15]

Other Usages

Other well known representatives of the Geier surname include the Geier Glove Company (*[16]) and the Geier Sausage Company (*[17]), neither of which have any necessary connection with each other or any other American bearer of the Geier surname. Another well-known representative of the Geier name was the Cincinnati Screw and Tap Company, founded by Frederick V. Geier and still controlled by the Geier family (but now known as Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. *[18]). This branch of the Geier family has been prominent in Cincinatti civic and social affairs since the early 1900s, and has endowed the Geier Collections and Research Center of the Museum of Natural History and Science in Cincinnati. *[19]. The name Geier also is associated with a notorious and arguably inhumane method of animal husbandry known as the Geier Hitch, and with a number of academic scholars, musical groups, businesses and professionals in the United States and Europe.