Where did the name grebe come from?

The name "grebe" is borrowed from the French word grèbe, which originated from the Franco-Provençal dialect of Savoy. Its ultimate etymological origin remains obscure, though some researchers have speculated a possible connection to the dialectal term grébo, meaning "variegated" or "of more than one color."1

The term was introduced into ornithological literature in 1555 by Conrad Gesner, who mistakenly applied the name—which he recorded from Savoyard speakers—to a seagull rather than the diving bird known today as the grebe. This error was repeated by other naturalists, such as Pierre Belon, before the word was correctly applied to the Podicipedidae family in the 18th-century Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert, which likely established its use in the English language.1