Changes To Old English Vocabulary - Animals

Animals

Modern English has no Germanic words left that mean 'animal' in its most generic sense of 'non-human creature'. Old English dēor, gesceaft, gesceap, nēat and iht were all eclipsed by 'animal', 'beast', 'creature' and 'critter', all of which are of Latin origin.

• āðexe: 'lizard'. Lizard appeared in Middle English and is from Old French lesarde, from Latin lacertus. The earliest occurrence of the word (spelled lusarde) is in the poem Piers Plowman (written about 1360–1399). Old English āðexe does survive as ask ('newt', 'eft', 'lizard'): cf. German Eidechse, Dutch hagedis.

• ælepūte: 'burbot'. The Old French word borbote had replaced ælepūte by the Middle English period. 'Burbot' first occurred in English around 1475. The word's modern descendant, 'eelpout', is occasionally used for the burbot, although that term has come to define a different animal.

• cawelwyrm: 'caterpillar (see lēafwyrm).

• culfre: 'dove', 'pigeon' has survived as the rare/dialectal 'culver', a word the AHD believes comes from Vulgar Latin colombula. The OED acknowledges this possibility, but asserts that it is more likely native. 'Culver' is first attested in English in around 825 and 'dove' in around 1200. The Middle English dove is thought to come from Old English, but the assumed form (*dūfe) is unattested, cf. dūfedoppa below. It is most likely to have been common Germanic.

• dēor: 'animal', 'beast'. Dēor is the etymon of English 'deer', although dēor as 'deer' as early as around 893 by Alfred the Great. At some point in the Middle English period the more specific meaning of 'deer' became common, with the original meaning becoming lost by the end of the period. Compare German Tier, Dutch dier, Swedish djur, Danish and Norwegian dyr, Icelandic dýr.

• dūfedoppa: 'pelican'. The term pelican appeared in Middle English and is ultimately from Ancient Greek.

• ened: 'duck', 'drake'. 'Drake' first appeared in around 1300 and ened then disappeared. The AHD says the origin is unknown. Old High German antrahho seems to be a combination of ant (cognate of Old English ened) and trahho (cognate of drake), but the OED holds that the conjectured cognate in Old English (unattested *andrake) "has no basis of fact". The word ened likely has a PIE origin, compare Latin anas, Lithuanian antis and Old Greek nēssa ('duck'). 'Duck' is from an anattested Old English word *duce, presumably from the verb ducan ('duck', 'dive'). Compare with the German Ente, Dutch eend, Common Scandinavian and.

• fifalde: 'butterfly'. Old English had the word butorflēoge as early as 1000 and this term (of dubious origin, although the ultimately Greek word "butter" is certainly the first element) eventually pushed out the entirely Germanic fifalde. Compare with Old High German fîfaltarâ, German Falter, Old Saxon vivoldara, Southern Dutch vijfwouter, Old Norse fifrildi, Icelandic fiðrildi, Swedish fjäril, as well as Latin papilio.

• firgenbucca: 'ibex'. 'Ibex' is from Latin ibex which first appeared as ibecks in Edward Topsell's "The historie of foure-footed beastes" (1607). The word comes from firgen ('wooded height', 'mountain'), compare with Gothic fairguni ('mountain'), Old High German Fergunna ('Ore Mountains') and bucca, 'buck'). Compare with modern German Steinbock, Dutch (alpen) steenbok ('ibex').

• gesceaft, gesceap: 'creature'. Gesceap, the etymon of English 'shape', is documented as far back as around 1050. It had many meanings in Old English: 'creature', 'creation', 'structure', 'form', 'figure', 'configuration', 'pudendum', 'decree' and ;destiny'. 'Creature', ultimately from Latin, first entered English in around 1300 and actually pre-dates the modern word 'create'. Gesceaft ('creation', 'origin', 'constitution', 'nature', 'species') has the same etymological root as gesceap. It is documented as early as 888 and occurs with this meaning in various forms as late as around 1579, as schaft.

• hacod: 'mullet'. The OED lists hacod/haked as a dialectal name for a large pike and has a citation as late as 1847, but this word is not listed in any modern dictionary. 'Mullet' appeared in Middle English and it ultimately comes from Ancient Greek. The term is probably related to haca ('hook'). Compare with modern English hake, Dutch heek ('hake'), German Hechte ('esox').

• hæferblæte: 'bittern'. 'Bittern' entered Middle English as botor and comes from the Old French butor. It is attested in English in around 1000.

• higera: 'jay'. The word jai appeared in Middle English in around 1310 and is from Old French. The AHD states that it is possibly from the Latin praenomen Gaius, but gives no possible reason for the semantic change. The OED does not address the Gaius theory, only stating that it cannot be identified with Old French gai ('gay'). It instead acknowledges, but does not comment on the possibility, that it is from Old High German gâhi ('swift', 'quick', 'lively'). Compare with German Häher.

• hwilpe: 'curlew'. The Middle English form curleu comes from Old French courlieu, which is possibly of onomatopoeic origin. The OED also believes that it is probably onomatopoeic, but notes that its became assimilated to that of courlieu, curleu ('courier'), which is ultimately from Latin currere ('to run').

• iht: 'creature'. (See gesceap.)

• lēafwyrm: 'caterpillar', literally 'leaf-worm', 'leaf insect'. Webster's Dictionary (1897) lists 'leaf-worm' as "a caterpillar that devours leaves", but no modern dictionaries list this word. The cawel in cawelwyrm was a loan from Latin caulis ('cabbage') and the last recorded use of it was around 1000, as cawelwurm. Mælsceafa ('caterpillar') is attested as far back as Old English (around 1000 in the writings of Ælfric) and as late as 1398, as malshaue. Mæl (meaning roughly 'meal' as in 'mealworm') is attested only in the compound mælsceafa, but it has many well-documented cognates in other Germanic languages, such as Old Icelandic and Swedish. The second component shares its root with 'shave'. The ultimately Latin-derived caterpillar first appeared in English around 1440 as catyrpel.

• mælsceafa: 'caterpillar'. (See lēafwyrm.)

• mereswīn: 'dolphin', 'porpoise', literally 'sea-swine'. It is attested in Bald's Leechbook from the 10th century. The OED does not list 'mereswine' as archaic or obsolete, but the last citation given is by Frank Charles Bowen in his Sea Slang: a Dictionary of the Old-timers' Expressions and Epithets (1929). The OED lists sea-swine ('porpoise') (the last citation being for 1884) as "obsolete except dialectic". Dolphin entered English in the 12th century: it is ultimately from Ancient Greek. Compare with German Schweinswal ('porpoise', literally 'pig's whale').

• mūshāfoc: 'buzzard', literally 'mouse hawk'. It is not clear which bird of prey this word referred to. The OED lists multiple meanings for 'mouse hawk', (Short-eared Owl, Hen Harrier and Rough-legged Buzzard), but 'mouse hawk' is an alternate name, not the prevailing name. The Middle English word busard first entered the language in around 1300 and it comes ultimately from Latin būtēo.

• scræb: 'cormorant'. Cormorant first entered English in around 1320 as cormerant. It is ultimately from the Latin words for raven and sea and is probably related to (or a variant of) scræf ('cormorant'). Compare with German Scharbe, Common Scandinavian skarv.

• ryðða: 'mastiff'. The word mastiff appeared in around 1387 and it is ultimately of Latin origin.

• sisemūs: 'dormouse'. Dormouse (first attested in English in around 1425) is not a combination of door and mouse. Some lexicographers, including the editorial staff of the AHD, believe that it came from Anglo-Norman dormeus ('inclined to sleep', 'hiberating'), which is ultimately from Latin dormire ('to sleep'). The OED, citing the Dutch words slaep-ratte ('sleep rat') and slaep-muys ('sleep mouse'), acknowledges the possibility of this derivation, but also suggests that the first element is related to Old Norse dár ('benumbed').

• wōrhana, wildhænn: 'pheasant'. Pheasant appeared in English in 1299 (as fesaund) and is ultimately from Ancient Greek.

• wyrm: 'serpent', 'snake', 'dragon', 'insect'. The OED lists all entries of wyrm/worm with this meaning as archaic. The latest citation that it gives with this meaning is from William Morris's book The Life and Death of Jason (1867). The modern sense of worm as goes back as far as 1000. Compare with Swedish orm, Nynorsk orm ('snake', 'serpent').