The wee ones (was Re: badassery)

[Larry Sheldon]

On 3/17/2012 11:37 AM, W Brewer wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       W Brewer<brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: The wee ones (was Re: badassery)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Larry Sheldon wrote:
>
>> Are there rules for referring to the young of various animals"?  E. g.
>> "poults" (turkeys and others including
>> some where "chick" is common), "kits" (foxes), "kittens" (cats), "puppies"
>> (dogs). What are those rules?
>
> WB:  A rule of thumb is: the number of categories we differentiate for
> animals depends on their economic/social importance. I am only concerned
> about eating a chicken sandwich. A farmer would think about chick, pullet,
> chicken, hen (hatch eggs), capon, rooster, at least. I am not a snake
> breeder, so I do not have a particular label for a baby snake. Nor
> a Hollywood rat wrangler. But I have had dogs, so I know a baby dog is a
> puppy; adult: boy-dog, girl-dog (tabu-avoidance of b-word); no special term
> for fixed dogs. Just two basic terms: dog, puppy. (Maybe doggie is a
> hypocoristic blend?) But, is your question, What rule generated the word
> puppy in my brain? Lautgesetz und Analogie, I suppose. Puppy<  French
> poupee (avec l'accent aigu)(doll).  Buck synonym dict sec.3.612:
> the Germanic-inherited whelp has been replaced by puppy in the case of dogs
> (in which case pup would be a back formation) and by cub in the case of
> foxes, lions, tigers, wolves, while calf  pertains to any young bovine and
> various large animals, moose, elephant, whale. (So why don't I say lion
> kittens? Who is making up these rules?) Bird chicks, but duckling, gosling.
> If you want to try and see if you can come up with any regularity in
> Indo-European livestock terminology, have a look at Buck's tables for
> cattle, sheep, swine, horse, chicken, all with 5 basic categories of
> etymological interest; goat 3 categories.

It is clear that I need to add to my dictionary collection, which will
require some subterfuge since I am under orders to "downsize" and stop
buying books that occupy airspace.

But it is interesting that even in this recitation there are things that
must be accounted-for somehow (e. g. I know baby foxes to be "kits" but
it appears that "pups" and "cubs" are also used.)


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