Compositional etymology, not transmitted in full in the extant versions of Orion's Etymologicum, but only in the Gudianum. Sturz's punctuation, with a colon after ἐρᾶσθαι, is erroneous. The explanation is that, since the domestic pigeon often has its nestlings taken away by the owner, it does not depend on the bird to love its young or not. This goes back to an observation in the Philologus (ed. Sbordone, chap. 16): Ὁ Φυσιολόγος ἔλεξε περὶ αὐτῆς· ἡ μὲν περιστερά, ὅτε τοὺς νεοσσοὺς αὐτῆς αἴρει ὁ κύριος αὐτῆς, οὐ φθονεῖ οὐδὲ μνησικακεῖ, ἀλλ’ ἀγωνίζεται ἑτέραν νοσσιὰν ποιῆσαι καὶ νεοσσοὺς ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ οἴκῳ :The Physiologus says that when its owner takes away its young, <the dove> is not jealous or resentful, but it rushes to produce other nestlings and youngs in the owner's house"