merle

merle¹ blackbird

Etymology

The word for the blackbird is borrowed from Anglo-Norman merle and Middle French merle,^[2][3][4] recorded in Old French from about 1165 and in Anglo-Norman from 1190,^[2][5] from Latin merula or merulus (“blackbird, ouzel”).^[2][3][6][4] Middle English had earlier borrowed merule directly from Latin, in the late 14th century.^[3][7] The OED derives the Latin word from the Indo-European base of Welsh mwyalch and Breton moualch (“blackbird”), and perhaps of ouzel;^[2] Klein explains it as a form of Latin *mesola with rhotacism, cognate with Old English ōsle (“ouzel”),^[8] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ams- (“black, blackbird”).^[3] Compare Italian merlo, Spanish mirlo, Portuguese melro, Middle Dutch meerle and Old High German merla.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The blackbird: 1483, in Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend.^[2] The Shorter Oxford calls the word originally Scottish.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The OED, as quoted by Etymonline, judged the word perhaps never in popular use, though constant in Scottish poetry from the 15th century.^[3] Weekley notes that it was usually paired with mavis, a pairing that Drayton brought into English from the Scottish poets.^[10] Following the Latin and French words, it was also used from 1601 to 1745 for a sea fish resembling a carp, perhaps a wrasse.^[2] It is now chiefly Scottish and poetic.^[2][9][11]

Timeline

• 1483 – the blackbird.^[2]
• 1601 – a sea fish like a carp, perhaps a wrasse (obsolete after 1745).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chiefly Scottish and poetic) The common European blackbird, Turdus merula.^{[2][11][6][9]}

merle² mottled coat of dogs

Etymology

The word for the mottled coat of dogs is probably from English a shortened form of merled or merly, regional variants of marled and marly, mottled.^[2][9] Collins traces it to dialect mirlet or mirly, speckled.^[11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls its origin unknown,^[12] and the American Heritage Dictionary suggests that it comes from the name of the blackbird.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dog, especially a collie, whose coat has irregular dark blotches on a lighter ground, or this pattern itself: 1905, in C. H. Wheeler's contribution to J. Watson's Dog Book.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1911,^[12] and Dictionary.com to 1900–05.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In the English Dialect Dictionary, Scots mirl meant to become spotted, with mirlet and mirly for speckled.^[14] The colour is most often a bluish grey speckled or streaked with black, called blue merle,^[11][9] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also uses merle for the Australian cattle dog.^[12]

Timeline

• 1905 – a dog with a mottled coat, especially a collie; the coat pattern itself.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1911.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A coat pattern in dogs, especially collies, of dark blotches or streaks on a lighter, often bluish-grey ground.^[2][11][12]
2. A dog with such a coat.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. Of a dog, having such a coat: a blue merle sheepdog.^[11][9]