Pavo Definition & Meaning | YourDictionary

Origin of Pavo

Named by Dutch explorers Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman between 1595 and 1597. From Latin pāvō (“peacock").

From Wiktionary
Latin pāvō peacock

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Of the many characteristic birds may be mentioned Pycnonotidae or bulbuls, of which the Phyllornithinae are peculiar, Campephagidae or cuckoo-shrikes, Dicruridae or drongos, Nectariniidae or sunbirds; pheasants, together with Pavo and Gallus.
Nearly every order, except that of the Struthiones or ostriches, is well represented, and there are many peculiar genera not found elsewhere, such as Buceros, Harpactes, Lophophorus, Euplocamus, Pavo and Ceriornis.
He, not unnaturally, includes both curassows and turkeys in one category, calling both " Pavos " (peafowls); but he carefully distinguishes between them, pointing out among other things that the latter make a wheel (hacen la rueda) of their tail, though this was not so grand or so beautiful as that of the Spanish " Pavo," and he gives a faithful though short description of the turkey.
The red jungle fowl (Gallus ferrugineus), supposed to be the ancestor of our own poultry, is not good eating; and the same may be said of the peacock (Pavo cristatus), except when young.
The peacock is called Pavo, therefore, from pavor, fear, since its cry produces fear in those who hear it.

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