goldfinch

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English goldfinch, also golfinch,^[2] inherited from Old English goldfinc,^{[3][2][4][5][6]} formed from Old English gold + finc (“finch”), the ancestors of gold and finch.^[7][4][8] Etymonline says the bird is named for its yellow wing markings,^[3] and Johnson for "his golden colour".^[9] Old English finc is from Proto-Germanic *finkiz,^[3][1] perhaps imitating the bird's note.^[3] Compare German Goldfink.^[3] The OED also compares Medieval Latin auricinctus, probably "goldfinch", from aurum (“gold”) and the past participle of cingō (“to encircle”), in British glosses of the 10th and 11th centuries.^[7] English regional spellings include “goolfrench” and “goldflinch”, with an added consonant, and in Shropshire coldfinch, apparently altered after cold.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The small European finch: the OED's first record is the early Old English Cleopatra Glossary,^[7] and Bosworth–Toller lists the word in Ælfric's Glossary, where it glosses the Latin bird names auricinctus and florentius.^[6] The first Middle English quotation in the Middle English Dictionary is from The Owl and the Nightingale (about 1275): "Pinnuc, golfinc, rok, ne crowe".^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the bird stood for high spirits: Chaucer's only use, in the Cook's Tale, says "Gaillard he was as goldfynch in the shawe",^[2][10] and the pardoner in Beryn walks "as glad as eny goldfynch".^[2] A flock was a chirm of goldfinches.^[2] From 1670 the name was given to similarly marked North American finches,^[7][3] and by 1848, in north Midlands English and northern Irish English, to the yellowhammer.^[7] Its colour also made it a slang name for gold, both first in Dekker: a gold coin from 1602 and a person with plenty of gold from 1603,^[7] a play on the bird's name.^[11] This person was someone who always had money in his purse, and so a target for thieves.^[11][7] In 1755 Johnson noted that in Staffordshire the bird was called a "proud taylor",^[9] and the OED says it was once popular as a cage bird.^[7] Anglers took the name from 1845 for a bright yellow salmon fly.^[7]

Timeline

• Old English – the European finch, in the form goldfinc.^[7][6]
• c. 1275 – Middle English golfinc, in The Owl and the Nightingale.^[2]
• 1602 – a gold coin (obsolete by 1896).^[7]
• 1603 – a person with plenty of gold (obsolete by 1848).^[7][11]
• 1670 – North American finches with yellow plumage.^[7]
• 1845 – an artificial fly for salmon fishing.^[7]
• 1848 – regionally, the yellowhammer.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small finch of Europe, Asia and northern Africa, with a red face and a yellow bar on black wings.^[12][4][7]
2. Any of several North American finches with yellow plumage, especially the yellow-and-black American goldfinch.^[12][4][7]
3. (regional, rare) The yellowhammer, in north Midlands English and northern Irish English.^[7]
4. (angling) A bright yellow artificial fly for salmon fishing.^[7]
5. (obsolete, 1603–1848) A person with plenty of gold.^[7][11]

Related words

• gold
• finch
• chaffinch
• bullfinch
• greenfinch

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins