bat
by Vinutha[ Edit ] 2010-02-07 10:30:45
bat A flying mammal or a wooden rod?
The name of the little animal came into English as bakke around the 14th century from Scandinavian words such as Old Norse ledhrblaka, 'leather-flapper' and Swedish natbakka, night-bat.
In Middle English at that time, bat was already used for boat, from Old Norse batr, which has survived in modern Icelandic as bátur. Bats have the unusual distinction of being mentioned only three times in the Bible: Leviticus 11:19, Deuteronomy 14:18 and Isaiah 2:20.
Batty, meaning crazy or dotty, did not come into use until the 16th century, as an allusion to the erratic movements of bats.
In Old English, batt meant mean wooden club. It might have come from an Irish (Celtic) word, bat and thus be one of the few Celtic words that have survived in English.
