heifer
Ben Zimmer
bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
Tue Feb 14 19:25:37 UTC 2012
On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 10:58 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> An actual query: are _heifer_ and _filly_ the *only* terms that are glossed as
> 'a female X that has never given birth'? Maybe there are parallel words for
> pre-parturitional sheep and pigs; as a true New Yorker, I wouldn't know.
Best I can find for ovine and porcine equivalents are "theave" and
"gilt", respectively, but those have also been used for young ewes and
sows more generally.
--bgz
--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list