Is bel- from pel- (in which case it doesn't make sense to me? Faded crow?)

+Jenna Carpenter I suspect it is more likely "large, strong"

Edit - having a special moment and confusing ravens with rooks. I don't go to the Tower often ;-) beleg did occur to me also

Why do we need another word for raven when we have craban already?

+Tamas Ferencz yes, "large crow".
+Александр Запрягаев Does craban mean "raven" per se? It is some sort of large crow-bird, but I always thougt of the craban as a mythical, fictional species. I often see flocks of birds of the crow family, and sometimes really many, like in the occasion in the book, but ravens tend to appear in pairs, and even when several show up, at plentitude of food for example, the don't behave as a flock. Therefor, if we should use the words craban and corch for birds in our own world, craban seems more fitting to a flock-living species, like the crow, and corch sounds like the sound of a raven.

It's also not a native Sindarin word, it's a loan word, but that aside I have to say I've always used craban for raven too.

It does also resemble the words hraban, hence raven.

All right, I surrender: craban can be used as "raven", and I'll use it that way. Should the magpie thus instead be mírchorch?