Are Cardinal Birds Named After Our Cardinals?

[Chiquitunga]

I know the word cardinal means "of foremost importance; paramount" - like the cardinal virtues; prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice - then of course our prominent bishops, the Cardinals.

Do the birds, cardinals, get their name from our Cardinals, because of they are red?

[Theoketos]

[quote name='Margaret Clare' post='1143778' date='Dec 16 2006, 12:48 PM']
I know the word cardinal means "of foremost importance; paramount" - like the cardinal virtues; prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice - then of course our prominent bishops, the Cardinals.

Do the birds, cardinals, get their name from our Cardinals, because of they are red?
[/quote]

Cardinal is a color of red.

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_%28bird%29"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_%28bird%29[/url]

[Laudate_Dominum]

The word cardinal comes from the latin word "cardinalis" which means chief or principal. The birds and the color are named after the fact that cardinals in the church wear a deep red.

I'm actually not sure if the name for a shade of red derives from an association with Catholic cardinals or from the bird, but I know that the birds have only been called cardinals since the late seventeenth century and that prior to this time the sole meaning of the word was comparable to the latin.