robin English · revision 5946

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=eponym|attested=1549|origins=fro Robin}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈrɒb.ɪn/, US /ˈrɑː.bɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a shortening of Robin Redbreast (mid-15th century),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from the personal name Robin, [[bor|fro|Robin]], a diminutive of [[m|fro|Robert]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) Word Origins compares the habit of giving birds names, as with Polly for a parrot.^(Cresswell 2021) Liberman, while noting the consensus for the name, suggests that robin may be one of many animal names of the form r + vowel + b, with a diminutive suffix as in Dobbin.^(Liberman 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The small European bird with a red breast: 1549 in Barnhart, the OED and Liberman, the 1540s in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Liberman 2008)^(Etymonline) Robin Redbreast is from about 1450,^(Barnhart 1988) and both names were at first Scots.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Redbreast'' alone is from the early 15th century, and Robin may have been added for the alliteration;^(Etymonline) an earlier Middle English name was robynet (before 1425).^(Barnhart 1988) Robin ousted the native name [[ruddock]].^(Etymonline) In North America the name was applied by 1703 to a red-breasted thrush,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and in former colonies, such as New Zealand and Australia, to various other birds.^(OED 1989) Robin's egg blue, a greenish blue, is from 1881 and refers to the North American bird; the English robin's eggs are freckled pinkish-white.^(Etymonline) Robin Hood is named from at least the late 14th century and Robin Goodfellow, a domestic elf, by the late 15th.^(Etymonline) In ''round robin'' (18th century) the reference of the noun is unknown.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1450 – Robin Redbreast.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1549 – robin, the bird.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1703 – the American robin.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1881 – robin's egg blue.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small Old World [[songbird]] with a brown back and orange-red breast.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A large North American [[thrush]] with a reddish breast.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Any of various birds that look like a robin.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[wake-robin]]

+ * [[ragged robin]]

+ * [[round robin]]

+ * [[sea robin]]

+ * [[robin redbreast]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Robert]]

+ * [[Robin Hood]]

+ * [[ruddock]]

+ * [[redbreast]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}