The term turtle-dove has no connection to actual turtles. It comes from Middle English turtildove, with variations such as turtilldove, turtledoue, and turtyldoue; which combines turtur, the genus name, with the Middle English term for dove. Turtur has its roots in Latin and is an onomatopoeic representation of the bird’s call. The word dove can be traced back to Old English dufe, which also referred to “pigeon”. Dufe comes from Proto-Germanic dubo, ultimately originating from the Proto-Indo-European reconstruction dewb, meaning “to move quickly” or “be obscure”. The verb form of turtle-dove meaning “to show affection” emerged in 1922. The hyphenated version of the term was more common in the past, but now it is less prevalent compared to turtledove and slightly more popular than turtle dove.
