dove and pigeons

[priyawarekar]

is there any differencr between a dove and a pigeon or are they  different words with same meaning

[RevShirls]

Generally, they are the same although generally in the UK people tend to distinguish the white birds of the family as doves (dove of peace etc) and pigeons as the grey birds commonly found in towns, cities etc.

I know when I studied Greek in New Testament studies, the Greek word for dove and pigeon was the same. It sounded a bit funny to translate a passage from the Bible as "The Holy Spirit descended as a pigeon"!. I live in Sweden now and the Swedish word "duva" means "dove" or "pigeon".

You can read a definition in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon

[RevShirls]

Sorry, the above link is faulty. You can access it by clicking on it and then removing the </P> symbol at the end of the webaddress. For the same page try this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove

Hopefully that will work.

[FastBarry]

Basically all pigeons are doves, the humble town pigeon is a Rock Dove.

[curragh]

collared doves are grey