Re[2]: [tied] bitch

At 8:28:15 PM on Saturday, January 19, 2008, Rick
McCallister wrote:

> So is French biche somehow related?

Probably not: see <http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/biche>.

> Is it possibly related to *bukkaz?

> There is a Scandinavian word tyk (sp?) for "bitch",

ON <tík>

> which superficially resembles English tyke "child,
> brat"

This was originally ME <ti:ke> 'a dog', usually deprecatory,
'a cur, a mongrel'; by extension 'a low-bred, lazy, mean,
surly, or ill-mannered fellow, a boor'; by further extension
(from use as a playful reproof to a child) 'a child, a small
boy'. The OED takes it to have been borrowed from ON <tík>;
Björkman was rather less certain.

> and dyke "lesbian (derogatory)".

That one seems to be a relatively recent (20th c.?) usage of
unknown origin.

Brian