azure legs of the cock, etc.

[Charles Doyle]

The MED generously documents the noun "chiken" from the 12th
century into the 16th, giving the definition "A young
chicken; chick, pullet; prob. also any chicken."  None of
the quotations, however, support that "prob. also any
chicken" coda.  The occurrences that aren't specifically age-
marked refer to edible fowl, which would prob. be young ones.

--Charlie
__________________________________________



---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:16:16 -0700
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: azure legs of the cock, etc.
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>  BTW, as late as 1911 the Britannica was asserting that
the common "fowl" was "otherwise nameless."
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/F/FO/FOWL.htm.
>  OED traces generic "chicken" only to 1827 (at Harvard).
>
>  JL

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