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Origin and history of squirrel

squirrel(n.)

"agile, active arboreal rodent with pointed ears and a long, bushy tail," early 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), from Anglo-French esquirel, Old French escurueil "squirrel; squirrel fur" (Modern French écureuil), from Vulgar Latin *scuriolus, diminutive of *scurius "squirrel," variant of Latin sciurus, from Greek skiouros "a squirrel," literally "shadow-tailed," from skia "shadow" (see Ascians) + oura "tail," from PIE root *ors- "buttocks, backside" (see arse). Perhaps the original notion is "that which makes a shade with its tail," but Beekes writes that this "looks like a folk etymology rather than a serious explanation." The Old English word was acweorna, which survived into Middle English as aquerne.

The native English squirrel is the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris); the grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) are North American, introduced deliberately in England in late 19c. Squirrel also from Middle English could mean the fur of the squirrel, as an article of trade or on the manufacture of clothing; it was somewhat fashionable 19c.-20c.

"The Kingis Quair" (c. 1500) has "The lytill squerell, full of besyness." Squirrels have been figurative of scatter-brained activity in English at least since c. 1400; a 1637 polemical text has "squirrel-headed young men;" the adjective also was used by Harry S. Truman in 1953.

also from early 14c.

squirrel(v.)

"to hoard up, store away" (as a squirrel does nuts), 1939, from squirrel (n.). Earlier it meant "hunt squirrels" (1580s); "run about or scurry" (1921). Related: Squirreled; squirreling.

also from 1939

Entries linking to squirrel

arse(n.)

"buttocks, hinder part of an animal," Old English ærs "tail, rump," from Proto-Germanic *arsoz (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Norse ars, Middle Dutch ærs, German Arsch "buttock"), from PIE root *ors- "buttock, backside" (source also of Greek orros "tail, rump, base of the spine," Hittite arrash, Armenian or "buttock," Old Irish err "tail").

To hang the arse "be reluctant or tardy" is from 1630s. Middle English had arse-winning "money obtained by prostitution" (late 14c.). To turn arse over tip is attested by 1884, along with the alternative arse over tit.

Every scrap of Latin Lord Edgecumbe heard at the Encaenia at Oxford he translated ridiculously; one of the themes was Ars Musica : he Englished it Bumfiddle. [Horace Walpole to the Countess of Upper Ossory, Aug. 9, 1773]

Ascians(n.)

inhabitants of the torrid zone, 1630s, from Medieval Latin Ascii, from Greek askioi, from a- "not, without" (see a- (3)) + skia "shade, shadow," which Beekes derives from PIE *skhieh- "shadow" (source also of Sanskrit chaya "shadow," also "image;" Persian saya "shadow," Albanian hie "shadow"). So called because they "haue the Sunne twice euery yeere in their zenith, and then they make no shaddowes at all" [Nathanael Carpenter, "Geographie Delineated forth in Two Bookes," 1635].

squirrely(adj.)

also squirrelly, 1876, “reminiscent in some way of a squirrel,” especially "inclined to rush this way and that unpredictably." from squirrel (n.) + -ly (1). Earlier was squirrelish (1834). Squirrelly is attested by 1895 as “abounding in squirrels.” Related: Squirreliness.

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Trends of squirrel

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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fantods

mind or body; which nothing will satisfy—which allows of no beginning, and no ending—which wheels round the mind like the squirrel...

marmoset

The English word was applied from early 17c. specifically to a type of small squirrel-like South American monkey....

bunny

pet name for a rabbit, 1680s, diminutive of Scottish dialectal bun, pet name for a rabbit, previously (1580s) for a squirrel...

gopher

burrowing squirrel, 1812, American English, perhaps an Englishing of Louisiana French gaufre "honeycomb, waffle," said to...

seam

Seam-squirrel "a louse" was old U.S. slang (1893)....

rodent

"a rodent mammal" 1835 (as an adjective 1833), from Modern Latin Rodentia, the order name, from Latin rodentem (nominative rodens), "the gnawers," present participle of rodere "to gnaw, eat away," which is of uncertain etymology, possibly is from an extended form of PIE root *red

fur

late 14c. "trimming or lining of a garment" (implied c. 1300 in surname Furhode "fur hood"), probably from Old French forrer, fourrer "cover with fur, line (clothing)," in general "to cover, fill with," from fuerre "sheath, scabbard" (via notion of "covering"), from Frankish *fod

pelt

"to strike repeatedly" (with something), c. 1500, a word of unknown origin; according to one old theory it is perhaps from early 13c. pelten "to strike," a variant of pilten "to thrust, strike," from an unrecorded Old English *pyltan, from Medieval Latin *pultiare, from Latin pul

chipmunk

"small striped squirrel of eastern North America," 1829 (also chitmunk, 1832), from Algonquian, probably Ojibwa ajidamoo (in the Ottawa dialect ajidamoonh) "red squirrel," literally "head first," or "one who descends trees headlong" (containing ajid- "upside down"), probably infl

encounter

c. 1300, "meeting of adversaries, confrontation," from Old French encontre "meeting; fight; opportunity" (12c.), noun use of preposition/adverb encontre "against, counter to" from Late Latin incontra "in front of," from Latin in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + contra "against" (

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Dictionary entries near squirrel

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Every scrap of Latin Lord Edgecumbe heard at the Encaenia at Oxford he translated ridiculously; one of the themes was Ars Musica : he Englished it Bumfiddle. [Horace Walpole to the Countess of Upper Ossory, Aug. 9, 1773]