jenny/hinny
Oct. 26th, 2006 07:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordjenny (also jennet and jinny) - n., the female of certain animals, especially the donkey and wren.
hinny - n., the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey.
As opposed to a mule, which is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. And yes, there are differences, despite the supposed genetic identity -- but as you know, Bob, there are more sex-chromosome-linked traits than just boybits/girlbits. Hinny is not, as you might think, a combination of h(orse) + (j)inny, but from Latin hinnus, from Greek innos or ginnos, of unknown origin. (Similarly, mule is from Latin mulus, of unknown origin.)
What I had on my list was jenny/jinny/hinny, thinking they were alternate spellings of the same name. Oops.
---L.
hinny - n., the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey.
As opposed to a mule, which is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. And yes, there are differences, despite the supposed genetic identity -- but as you know, Bob, there are more sex-chromosome-linked traits than just boybits/girlbits. Hinny is not, as you might think, a combination of h(orse) + (j)inny, but from Latin hinnus, from Greek innos or ginnos, of unknown origin. (Similarly, mule is from Latin mulus, of unknown origin.)
What I had on my list was jenny/jinny/hinny, thinking they were alternate spellings of the same name. Oops.
---L.
