English
poult
Poult comes from Old French poulet ‘young fowl’, from poule ‘hen’, and ultimately from Latin pullus ‘dark-colored, dark-gray, dusky’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpullusas pulla‘dark-colored, dark-gray, dusky’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400poule‘hen’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400poulet‘young fowl’diminutive of poule
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pult
- Englishearliest quotation 1792poult
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpullusas pulla‘dark-colored, dark-gray, dusky’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400poule‘hen’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400poulet‘young fowl’diminutive of poule
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pult
- Englishearliest quotation 1792poult
Earliest quotation: 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond: “‘I even questioned,’ said he, ‘whether there will not…”
The story
For the development of the stressed vowel, see poultry.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pelH- ‘pale, gray’
pale, poly, pall, fallow, paloma, palomino, 26 more
through Latin pullus ‘dark-colored, dark-gray, dusky’
Today it means
noun A young bird, a chick; now especially, a young game bird (turkey, partridge, grouse etc.).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin pullus / poult