Hoggerel
Archive
Week sixty-three: HOGGEREL (probability 25333), by David Sutton
One of the minor triumphs of my life was getting a gold star at primary school for being the only one in the class who knew that a young hare was called a leveret. Since then Scrabble has added considerably to my stock of words for young animals, and among these is HOGGEREL, a name for a yearling sheep, not yet shorn; this is a variant of HOGG or HOGGET.
Other words for young creatures include:
| BONHAM | a piglet |
| EIRACK | a young hen, from the Gaelic |
| EYAS, EYASS, NYAS | a young hawk taken from the nest for training. |
| GIMMER | a young ewe; also a derogatory word for a woman |
| GOATLING | a goat in its second year |
| HIDDER | a young male sheep |
| HOWLET, OWLET | a young owl |
| KEET | a young guinea-fowl |
| MATTIE, MAATJES | a young herring with undeveloped roe |
| SHOAT, SHOTE, SHOTTE | a young pig, especially one that has just been weaned |
| YELT | a young sow |