paddock

paddock¹ frog, toad

Etymology

The word for a frog or toad is inherited from Middle English paddok,^[2][3][4] formed from Middle English padde (“toad”) + -ok,^{[5][2][3][6][7]} probably as a diminutive.^[8][3] The simple noun is probably from Old Norse padda (“toad”),^[8][9] from Proto-Germanic *paddǭ (“toad”),^[8][10] which is also the source of Swedish padda, Danish padde, Old Frisian padde, Middle Dutch padde and Dutch schildpad (“tortoise”),^[8] and of Middle Low German padde.^[10][2] Etymonline calls the Germanic word of unknown origin, with no certain cognates outside Germanic;^[8] Orel considers it probably related to Latin badius (“brown, chestnut-coloured”) and Old Irish buide (“yellow”),^[10] and Merriam-Webster compares the Old English word that gave path.^[2] It is recorded earlier in surnames, such as “Alanus Paddoch” (1170), and in place names (“Padocdailes”, about 1180).^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A frog: about 1300, in a list of plant names;^[5] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century, as "a toad, a frog".^[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense "toad" is recorded from before 1425, in Kyng Alisaunder, and the word was soon used as an insult for a mean or spiteful person, in the Ludus Coventriae (before 1475).^[5] The Promptorium Parvulorum glosses it as a toad, and the Catholicon Anglicum has paddok-stole for a fungus,^[4] an old name for a toadstool from the mid-15th century.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a great frog or toad", quoting Spenser.^[11] In Scotland it also named a wooden, usually triangular sledge for heavy loads, from 1738.^[5][6] The word is now archaic except in Scots and northern English, where the form puddock is also used;^[6] the English Dialect Dictionary records it from Scotland and Ireland through the northern counties to Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Essex and Kent.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a frog.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[8]
• before 1425 – a toad.^[5]
• before 1475 – a contemptible or spiteful person.^[5]
• 1738 – in Scotland, a wooden sledge for heavy goods.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic or dialect) A frog or toad.^[2][6][5]
2. (archaic or dialect) A contemptible or spiteful person.^[6][5]
3. (Scotland) A wooden, usually triangular sledge for moving heavy goods.^[6][5]

paddock² enclosure, field

Etymology

The field is probably a variant of parrock,^{[5][6][13][14][15][3]} inherited from Middle English parrok,^[16][3][17] inherited from Old English pearroc (“enclosed space, fence”).^{[8][16][18][19]} The r became d, as in pediment;^[15][3] Dictionary.com explains the change by an r heard as a flapped d,^[7] and Ayto suggests a hypercorrect form, reversing a change of /d/ to /r/ in other words.^[20] Barnhart dates parrock in a place name from 1253, and parrok from 1283.^[16] The Old English noun is probably cognate with Middle Low German perk, Middle Dutch parc and parric and Old High German pfarrih (“enclosure, pen”),^[16][5] the source of German Pferch (“pen, fold”);^[5] its further origin is uncertain and disputed.^[5] The OED and Etymonline consider Medieval Latin parricus, recorded in the 8th century but itself from Germanic,^[8] as a possible source,^[5][8] and Holthausen derives the Old English word from it, comparing Spanish parra (“trellis”).^[19] Bosworth–Toller's supplement withdrew an earlier derivation from Celtic.^[18] The word is thus related to park.^{[20][8][15][21]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A small field or enclosure near a house or farm building, especially a pasture for horses: 1547, in a Scottish document.^[5] Merriam-Webster also dates this sense to 1547,^[2] while Barnhart dates the form paddok to 1622,^[16] Etymonline to the 1620s,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the early 17th century.^[6][14]

Semantic evolution

In Australia the word widened from 1808 to a fenced piece of land of any size, even a vast tract of rural land, and it is used there and in New Zealand for a playing field.^[5][9] From 1839 it named the enclosure where racehorses are assembled before a race, later also the area where racing cars are prepared;^[5][17] from 1856 it also named the enclosures of a stud farm.^[5] A figurative use is recorded from 1844, in Emerson.^[5] From 1678 to 1783 a paddock could also be a fenced path or course in a park.^[5] Australian and New Zealand gold mining used it for an open excavation in surface deposits (1852) and for a storage area for ore (1858).^[5] The verb, to shut up livestock in a paddock, is recorded from 1847 in an Australian newspaper, and "to fence in land" from 1873, in Trollope.^[5] In Australian slang a paddock was also a theatre vestibule used for meeting prostitutes (1876).^[22]

Timeline

• 1547 – a small field or enclosure, especially a pasture for horses.^[5][2] Barnhart dates the form paddok to 1622.^[16]
• 1678 – a fenced path in a park (obsolete by 1783).^[5]
• 1808 – in Australia, any enclosed land, even a large tract.^[5]
• 1839 – the enclosure for horses before a race.^[5]
• 1847 – verb, to shut up livestock in a paddock.^[5]
• 1852 – in mining, an open excavation.^[5]
• 1856 – the enclosures of a stud farm.^[5]
• 1873 – verb, to fence in land.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small enclosed field, usually near a house or stable, used for grazing or exercising horses.^{[9][17][2][5]}
2. In horse racing, the enclosure where the horses are paraded, saddled and mounted before a race; in motor racing, an area where the cars are prepared.^[9][17][5]
3. (Australia and New Zealand) Any area of fenced land, often a large one used as pasture; also a playing field: The cattle were moved to the back paddock.^{[9][17][2][5]}
4. (Australia and New Zealand, mining) An open excavation in surface deposits, or a place where ore is stored.^[5][2]

Verb

1. To put or keep animals in a paddock.^[17][2][5]
2. To fence in land.^[5]