Does anyone know why in the English language,they found it necessary to come up with a different name for each group of animals species?

It is a bit more specific than “them there”.

Boredom?

It’s called “taxonomy” and it seems to derive from an inherent desire to name everything down to the slightest specific deviation.

Though I don’t know if it’s specific to the “English language,” especially given that the names are derived almost exclusively from Latin.

I know that it is not common in French; and I always wonder who that vague “they” is. Language evolves.

@Blondesjon: So what’s the collective name for that group of llamas that live on a farm at the end of my road?

A spot of llamas.

a herd if you insist on using the “correct” term.

G’day Pretty Lilly,

Thank you for your question.

Not to mention a fluther of jellyfish. link

It is human nature to name various objects and it is good for precision. Besides, it is a good source of questions for trivia nights. :>)

Regards

@gailcalled I really need to introduce you to the Answerbagger “Wide Awake in Phoenix ” I truly believe you two are twins separated at birth,he loves to nitpick at the slightest discrepancy in grammar and/or spelling !

For the same reason that you, myself and most everyone else have different names. To be able to tell who is whom and what is what.

It’s not just English. Chinese has words like this for not just animals, but almost everything. They’re called measure words, and any time you say, this thing, that thing, or any number of things, you use a measure word. There’s one general word, ge, that applies to almost everything, then there’s a word for (I think) things that are thin and flat, like paper or photographs, a word for animals, and a word for family members, among many other things. If you were to say “there are six people in my family,” a literal translation would be something like, “my family has six mouths to feed.”

I think collective nouns are things that linguists make up for fun.

for Trivial Pursuit questions.

Those egghead types are always trying to justify their existence!

The effect of lingo in history.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS, TERMS OF VENERY, OR THE VENERIAL GAME

The tradition of using “terms of venery” or “nouns of assembly”—collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals—stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages. The fashion of a consciously developed hunting language came to England from France. It is marked by an extensive proliferation of specialist vocabulary, applying different names to the same feature in different animals. These elements can be shown to have already been part of French and English hunting terminology by the beginning of the 14th century. In the course of the 14th century, it became a courtly fashion to extend the vocabulary, and by the 15th century, this tendency had reached exaggerated proportions. The Venerie of Twiti (early 14th century) distinguished three types of droppings of animals, and three different terms for herds of animals. Gaston Phoebus (14th century) had five terms for droppings of animals, which were extended to seven in the Master of the Game (early 15th century). The focus on collective terms for groups of animals emerges in the later 15th century. Thus, a list of collective nouns in Egerton MS 1995, dated to c. 1452 under the heading of termis of venery &c. extends to 70 items and the list in the Book of Saint Albans (1486) runs to 165 items, many of which, even though introduced by the compaynys of beestys and fowlys, do not relate to venery but to human groups and professions and are clearly humorous. (a Doctryne of doctoris, a Sentence of Juges, a Fightyng of beggers, an uncredibilite of Cocoldis, a Melody of harpers, a Gagle of women, a Disworship of Scottis etc.

The Book of Saint Albans became very popular during the 16th century and was reprinted frequently. Gervase Markham edited and commented on the list in his The Gentleman’s Academic in 1595. The book’s popularity had the effect of perpetuating many of these terms as part of the Standard English lexicon, even though they have long ceased to have any practical application.[5] Even in their original context of medieval venery, the terms were of the nature of kennings, intended as a mark of erudition of the gentlemen able to use them correctly rather than for practical communication.[citation needed] The popularity of these terms in the early modern and modern period has resulted in the addition of numerous light-hearted, humorous or “facetious” collective nouns.~Wikipedia

Some of my favorites:

An ostentation of peacocks
A murder of crows
An exultation of larks
A compliment of storks
A hilarity of gulls
A concert of mockingbirds
A skein of geese
A raft of pelicans
A cete of badgers
A cloud of bats
A sleuth of bears
A siege of bitterns
A grist of bees
A bench of bishops
A bellowing of bullfinches
A drove of bullocks
A draught of butlers
A rabble of butterflies
A blush of boys
A wake of buzzards
A clouder of cats
A glaring of cats
A mews of capons
A drunkenship of cobblers
A gulp of cormorants
A piteousnous of doves
A convocation of eagles
A charm of finches
A skulk of foxes
A covey of grouse
A rasp of guineafowl
A down of hares (Watership Down now makes sense!)
A cast of hawks
An observance of hermits
A bloat of hippopotamuses
A cackle of hyenas
A mess of iguanas
A train of jackdaws
A scold of jays
A richness of martens
A mischief of mice
A company of moles
A plump of moorhens
A scourge of mosquitos
A fleet of mudhens
A watch of nightingales
A superfluity of nuns
A parliament of owls
A pandemonium of parrots
A bouquet of pheasants
A poverty of pipers
A kit of pigeons
A congregation of plovers
An unkindness of ravens
A fling of sandpipers
A filth of starlings
A lamentation of swans
A scream of swifts
A spring of teal
A pitying of mourning doves
A fall of woodcocks
A descent of woodpeckers