Etymology Dictionary

ALBATROSS,  a large sea-bird.  (F.,—Port.)   The word occurs in Hawkesworth's Voyages, A.D. 1773 (Todd's Johnson.)—F. albatros.   'The name albatross is a word apparently corrupted by Dampier [died 1712] from the Portuguese alcatraz, which was applied by the early navigators of that nation to cormorants and other sea-birds;' Eng. Cyclopædia.—Portuguese alcatraz, a sea-fowl.   ¶ It has been supposed that the prefix al is the Arabic article, and that the word was originally Arabic. [※]

ADDENDA

(Port.,—Span.,—Arab.,—Gk.).   F. albatros, formerly algatros; but this F. form was prob. borrowed from English.—Port. alcatraz, a cormorant, albatross; Span. alcatraz, a pelican.—Port. alcatraz, Span. arcaduz, a bucket.—O. Span. alcaduz, a bucket (Minsheu).—Arab. al-qádús, lit. the bucket.—Arab. al, the; Gk. κάδος, a water-vessel.   Similarly the Arab. saqqá, a water-carrier, means a pelican, because it carries water in its pouch.   See Devic, Supp. to Littré.   Note also that Drayton uses the Port. form:  'Most like to that sharp-sighted alcatraz;'  The Owl.   In An Eng. Garner, ed. Arber, v. 94 (ab 1565) it is said that certain sea-birds were "by the Portuguese called Alcatrarses."