I, said the donkey, all shaggy and brown,
I carried His mother uphill and down,
I carried her safely to Bethlehem town,
I said the donkey all shaggy and brown.
- from The Friendly Beasts, a traditional Christmas carol
The donkey is revered by Christians for its uncomplaining labor on behalf of the mother of Jesus. It was considered unclean by the Egyptians, Jews and Muslims. The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul encounters a fearsome red ass after death. The French still have an expression, "merchant comme un ane rouge" which translates "vicious as a red donkey". It is possible that the Scarlet Beast of the Apocalypse sprang from the same Egyptian root.
The word donkey was not commonly used until the late 18th century. A plow horse was referred to as dobbin, a diminutive of Robert via Robin and an ass was referred to as dicky thence donkey, probably from Duncan or perhaps Richard. The word ass is far older and comes originally from the Latin asinus. Asinine has the same root and means stupid, which asses aren't, but they are stubborn! The name burro comes from the Spanish word borrico which in turn comes from the Latin word for a small or inferior horse, burricus.
The donkey was domesticated in the Middle East from the wild asses of North Africa about 7500 BC. Sheep and goats had already been domesticated but cattle, horses and pigs had not.
Mules were discovered early on to have more stamina (we now call it hybrid vigor) than either horses or donkeys because mules are mentioned in the Bible and the Iliad. Mules are the result of crossing a mare (64 chromosomes) and a jack (male ass with 62 chromosomes). If a stallion is crossed with a jenny (female ass) the result is called a hinny. Both mules and hinnies can be either sex. A hinny for some reason lacks the mule's stamina. Hinnies neigh and mules bray so the dad seems to contribute the offspring's vocal cords. Occasionally (fewer than 100 times since the middle of the sixteenth century) a female mule can be fertile and produce offspring. It's surprising that there are any since mules and hinnies have one more chromosome than donkeys and one fewer chromosome than horses so the chromosomes can't divide evenly. All of those 60 or so fertile mules or hinnies have been female. Nary a male mule or hinny can claim paternity to anything!
An old wives' tale explains that in order to get a donkey to mate with a mare the farmer should sprinkle urine from a female donkey around the mare, darken the stable, and play violin music (accordion music is acceptable if a violinist is unavailable). Actually I think the mare just needs to be in heat!
A character in Brazilian folklore is the Headless Mule. According to most traditions it is either a woman who has been cursed by God or her ghost. Her sin appears to have been fornication with a priest and thereby condemned to turn into a fire-spewing mule that has to gallop through the country from sundown on Thursday until sunrise on Friday. I wonder how she spews fire without a head or mouth?
The most familiar donkey slang is "donkey's years" which means a long time. This term probably comes from slurring "donkey's ears". Donkey's have very long ears which would translate into a long time.
Geometry students have long been faced with proving to their teachers' satisfaction Euclid's fifth proposition of his first book: if a triangle has two side of equal length the angles opposite them must also be equal. Because the proof is tedious students sometimes refer to the structure as an asses bridge (or pons asinorum if they are also taking Latin, which nowadays not very many are). German students refer to it as Esels-brucke and French students call it pons aux anes.
The donkey became associated with the Democratic party when Andrew Jackson ran for president in 1828. His opponents referred to him as a jackass. Rather than be insulted he gleefully adopted the strong-willed animal as his logo and put it on his campaign posters!
Another expression that is not used often any more is "talk the hind legs off a donkey". I wouldn't want to do that so I'll stop here!
A character in Brazilian folklore is the Headless Mule. According to most traditions it is either a woman who has been cursed by God or her ghost. Her sin appears to have been fornication with a priest and thereby condemned to turn into a fire-spewing mule that has to gallop through the country from sundown on Thursday until sunrise on Friday. I wonder how she spews fire without a head or mouth?
The most familiar donkey slang is "donkey's years" which means a long time. This term probably comes from slurring "donkey's ears". Donkey's have very long ears which would translate into a long time.
Geometry students have long been faced with proving to their teachers' satisfaction Euclid's fifth proposition of his first book: if a triangle has two side of equal length the angles opposite them must also be equal. Because the proof is tedious students sometimes refer to the structure as an asses bridge (or pons asinorum if they are also taking Latin, which nowadays not very many are). German students refer to it as Esels-brucke and French students call it pons aux anes.
The donkey became associated with the Democratic party when Andrew Jackson ran for president in 1828. His opponents referred to him as a jackass. Rather than be insulted he gleefully adopted the strong-willed animal as his logo and put it on his campaign posters!
Another expression that is not used often any more is "talk the hind legs off a donkey". I wouldn't want to do that so I'll stop here!
No comments:
Post a Comment