Archaeopteryx (from Ancient Greek αÏχαιος archaios meaning 'ancient' and πτεÏυξ pteryx meaning 'feather' or 'wing' It appears as if the ambiguity of the Ancient Greek πτεÏυξ was realized by von Meyer. At the time of the original description, he referred to a single feather which appeared like a modern bird's remex (wing feather), but he had heard of and been shown a rough sketch of the London specimen, to which he referred to as a "Skelet eines mit Federn bedeckten Thiers" ("skeleton of an animal covered in feathers"). In German, this ambiguity is amply resolved by the term Schwinge which confers exactly the same ambiguity as πτεÏυξ - Urschwinge was the favored translation of Archaeopteryx among German scholars in the late 19th century; in English, "ancient pinion" would be the best possible approximation.; pronounced ), from the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian stage, 155-150 million years ago) of what is now Germany, is the earliest and most primitive known avian.