Completely unrelated, in Norway we call them “crow balls” (kråkeboller)
I went to fact check this. It’s real but I feel like we’re missing out on something here
I’m confused! Doesn’t urchin really relate to children?
Is that a colloquialism or more English-on-drugs?
Thats a street urchin. Strangely, this blog post was one of the first links that came up. It ponders how the name street urchin came to be.
It says
Looking in the OED, I see two possibly relevant definitions. 1c. A goblin or elf. (From the supposition that they occasionally assumed the form of a hedgehog.)… There is also 4a. A pert, mischievous, or roguish youngster; a brat.
Edit: formatting is crazy
The use of “urchin” to refer to children is separate from its original meaning.
Maybe it became that as a word for something underfoot?
In dutch they are literally called sea-hedgehog. (zee-egel)
So, while latin and all is nice, there’s always the dutch way of “doe maar normaal dan doe je gek genoeg”. Which translates into: just behave as regular, that’s more than enough excitement.
Same in Spanish, but from a different root-word. Erizo del mar, which erizo is just a normal hedgehog
See, this is why etymology is such a fascinating field, and why learning Latin and Greek are still worthwhile.
Do you speak Latin? I’m trying to learn Latin for fun, and I would like some recommendations. I already have the first Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata PDF.
