English
heathcropper
From heath + cropper.
Proto-Indo-European *kayt- ‘forest, wasteland, pasture’
Proto-Germanic *haiþī ‘heath, waste, untilled land’
Proto-West Germanic *haiþi ‘uncultivated land, wasteland, moor’
Old English hǣþ ‘heath, untilled land, waste’
Middle English heth ‘a heath’
English heath
Today it means
noun A farm animal, particularly a wild pony, kept to graze on the heath, particularly associated with Wessex.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / heathcropper