Poultry — From Old French to English | etymologist.ai
poultry
/ˈpoʊltri/·noun·c. 1300 CE, Middle English pultrie, in the sense of domestic fowl collectively and the trade of dealing in them.·Established
Origin
From PIE *pau- (small, young), Latin pullus (young animal) became Old French poulet and pouletrie, entering English as 'poultry' after the Norman Conquest. Cognates span: pullet, foal, paucity, puerile, pedagogy, encyclopedia, and even 'pool' (betting) — from French poule, the hen.
Definition
Domesticated fowl such as chickens, turkeys, and ducks raised collectively for their meat or eggs, from Old French pouletrie, derived from Latin pullus meaning a young animal or chick.
The Full Story
Old French13th centurywell-attested
The word 'poultry' entered Middle English from Old French pouletrie, meaning the trade of dealing in domestic fowl. The Old French pouletrie derives from poulet (young chicken), a diminutive of poule (hen). Poule tracesback to Vulgar Latin *pulla, the feminine of Latin pullus, which denoted a young animal — a chick, a foal, a whelp — carrying
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The word 'pool' — as in betting pool, car pool, or pooling resources — comes from French poule, meaning hen. In 17th-century French gambling, the collected stakes were placed 'dans la poule' (into the hen), either from coins gathered like eggs in a nest, or from games where a live bird was the prize. That sameFrench poule descends from Latin pullus (young animal), making
category, not just the cooked dish. Its doublet 'pullet' (young hen) entered English by a separate, more direct route from the same Latin pullus. The word 'pool' (betting pool) also descends from French poule (hen) — the collected stakes were 'dans la poule,' making a betting pool and a pullet linguistic cousins. Key roots: *pau- (Proto-Indo-European: "few, small, young — source of Latin pullus (young animal), paucus (few → paucity), puer (child → puerile), Greek pais (child → pediatrics, pedagogy, encyclopedia)"), pullus (Latin: "young animal, chick — ancestor of both poultry and pullet (doublets); also possibly source of foal via Proto-Germanic *fulaz"), poule (Old French: "hen — also source of 'pool' (betting pool, from French practice of wagering 'dans la poule')").
poulet(French (inherited from Latin pullus))pollo(Italian/Spanish (inherited from Latin pullus))paucus(Latin (true cognate from PIE *pau- — few → paucity))pais (παῖς)(Ancient Greek (true cognate from PIE *pau- — child → pediatrics, pedagogy))puer(Latin (true cognate from PIE *pau- — boy/child → puerile))Fohlen(German (true cognate from PIE *pau- via Proto-Germanic *fulaz — foal))