gosling

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English goselyng,^[2][3] which replaced an earlier gesling, recorded probably before 1300,^[4] borrowed from Old Norse gæslingr (“gosling”),^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} formed from gás (“goose”).^[5][7][8][9] The OED thinks the form with -e- is probably the earlier one, and that the standard form was probably a new formation from Middle English gos + -ling, with the vowel shortened as is normal in such formations;^[5] Barnhart, Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Klein likewise derive it from Middle English gos, goose, and the diminutive suffix -ling,^[2][11][12] while Hoad, the Oxford Dictionary of English and the American Heritage Dictionary describe the Norse word as altered by association with goose.^[9][8][7] Barnhart finds it in a surname about 1275.^[2][4] Related words are Danish gæsling and Swedish gäsling,^[6][13] and German has a similar formation, German Gänslein.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A young goose: Barnhart and Etymonline date goselyng to the mid-14th century,^[2][6] after the earlier gesling of probably before 1300.^[4] The OED's first quotation is from about 1425, in a vocabulary.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline defines the word as a young goose that has not yet reached its full plumage,^[6] and Johnson (1755) as "a goose not yet full grown", with a quotation from L'Estrange.^[14] From Shakespeare's Coriolanus (before 1616) it was used figuratively for a foolish or inexperienced person, someone young and "green";^[5][13] the Shorter Oxford calls this now rare.^[13] The OED records it for the figure of a gosling from before 1535,^[5] and for a catkin or blossom on a tree from 1706,^[5] a sense Merriam-Webster Unabridged labels dialectal in England.^[11] Etymonline notes that the longer form gooseling was also used now and then.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – goselyng, a young goose.^[2][6] The OED's first quotation is from about 1425.^[5]
• before 1535 – the figure of a gosling.^[5]
• before 1616 – figuratively, a foolish, inexperienced person.^[5][13]
• 1706 – a catkin or blossom on a tree.^[5][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young goose: A line of goslings followed their mother to the pond.^[10][11][5]
2. A young, inexperienced or foolish person.^[10][11][5]
3. (dialectal, England) A catkin.^[11][5][13]

Related words

• goose
• gander

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.