milch cow

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>... a foreign word which is (mis?-) used in a
>particular setting ....

"Milch cow" apparently is not an adoption from German, although that's what
I would have guessed myself offhand ... apparently it's from Middle English.

The OED shows "milch-cow" from 1424, based on the adjective "milch" from
ca. 1290. "Milch" (adjective) approx. = "milk" (attributive), meaning "used
for milking", "kept for milk production" (as opposed e.g. to a beef cow).
The adjective is/was applied to domestic animals kept for milking and also
to humans (i.e., wet nurses).

-- Doug Wilson