At 1:11:39 AM on Thursday, April 24, 2008, Rick McCallister
wrote:
> --- "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:
[...]
>> English <hedgehog> is a compound of <hedge> and
>> <hog>: the hedgehog is an animal with a pig-like snout
>> that frequents hedgerows. It's first attested in the
>> first half of the 15th century.
> No chance it could be a folk etymology? I'm assuming
> there were hedgehogs in the British Isles before the
> 15th century.
Piotr's already dealt with the main question, but yes, there
are older terms.
Borrowings of OFr <heriçun>, ONorthFr <herichon> are found
much earlier (OED s.vv. <urchin, hurcheon, irchin>); the
earliest OED citation for any of them is for <yrichon>
~1290. (The MED dates the same citation to ~1300.) The OE
word was <igil>, later <i:l>; it survived into early ME ('Þu
were biset þicke mid sunne, Ond alle [sunnen] weren
prikiende so piles on ile' ~1225). It also formed a ME
compound, <i:lespi:l> 'hedgehog', literally <i:les pi:l>
'hedgehog's dart, hedgehog's prickle', that is found as late
as ~1400 ('Þar lakkeþ also roo & roobokkes & ylspyles,
wontes, & oþer venemes bestes').
Brian