finch

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English finch, also fincq and fynch,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English finc,^[5][6][7][8] from Proto-Germanic *finkiz.^[6][9][2] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the ODE call it a West Germanic word,^[10][11][12] and the OED notes that it is not recorded in Old Norse, although Swedish fink and Danish finke exist.^[5] It is cognate with Middle Low German vinke and Middle Dutch vinke, Dutch vink, Old High German fincho, Middle High German vinke and German Fink.^{[5][6][2][13]} Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *spingo- or *pingo- (“sparrow, finch”).^[14] Etymonline, Klein and Partridge think the name imitates the bird's call,^[6][13][15] comparing Ancient Greek σπίγγος (spíngos, “chaffinch”),^{[13][15][9][16][1]} and Etymonline also Breton pint (“chaffinch”) and Russian пенка (penka, “wren”), as well as the dialect word spink, recorded in English from the early 15th century.^[6][1] The OED adds that the call of the male chaffinch is often rendered "spink" or "pink" in England, and that French pinson, Italian pincione and Welsh pinc are similar in sound and meaning but not demonstrably connected.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The small songbird: the Old English word finc glosses Latin fringilla in the Épinal Glossary,^[5][8] which Barnhart dates before 700.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word glosses Latin bird names from about 1175,^[3] and Chaucer uses it four times,^[17] in the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales in the phrase pulle a finch,^[4][2] which the MED explains as to pull a clever trick and the OED as to swindle someone, now obsolete.^[3][5] From 1678, in Ray's translation of Willughby's Ornithology, it formed the names of many species with a defining word, such as goldfinch, chaffinch and bullfinch, including birds of other families that look similar.^[5][11] Johnson (1755) knew three kinds, the goldfinch, chaffinch and bullfinch.^[18] In South Africa it has been used from 1801 for the weaver bird.^[5] In southern Nottinghamshire dialect finch was the bullfinch, and in Cheshire, the Midlands and Northamptonshire a finch-backed cow was one with a white back;^[19] in Ireland Finch! was an exclamation of contempt.^[19] In Australian slang of 1910 a finch was a sum of money.^[20]

Timeline

• before 700 – Old English finc, glossing Latin fringilla, in the Épinal Glossary.^[5][2]
• c. 1175 – Middle English fincg, in a glossary.^[3]
• c. 1387–95 – fynch, in Chaucer's General Prologue.^[2]
• 1678 – with defining words, forming names of species.^[5]
• 1755 – Johnson lists the goldfinch, chaffinch and bullfinch.^[18]
• 1801 – South African English, a weaver bird.^[5]
• 1910 – Australian slang, a sum of money.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small songbird of the family Fringillidae, with a short, stout bill for cracking seeds, such as the goldfinch, chaffinch or canary: A pair of finches was feeding on the thistle heads.^[21][22][11]
2. Any of various similar seed-eating birds of related families.^[21][11][5]
3. (South Africa) A weaver bird.^[5]

Word family

• purple finch
• zebra finch

Related words

• spink
• goldfinch
• chaffinch
• bullfinch

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
15. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
16. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
17. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
18. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
19. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
20. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
21. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
22. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster