cattle: [13] Ultimately, cattle is the same word as chattel [13], and when it first entered English it had the same meaning, ‘property’. From earliest times, however, it was applied specifically to livestock thought of as property. In the Middle Ages it was a wide-ranging term in animal husbandry, being used for horses, sheep, pigs, and even poultry and bees, as well as cows, and such usages survived dialectally until comparatively recently, but from the mid 16th century onwards there is increasing evidence of the word’s being restricted solely to cows.
Its ultimate source is medieval Latin capitāle ‘property’, which came to English via Old French chatel as chattel and via Anglo-Norman catel as cattle. Capitāle itself goes back to classical Latin capitālis (from caput ‘head’), from which English gets capital. => capital, chattel
cattle (n.)
mid-13c., "property," from Anglo-French catel "property" (Old North French catel, Old French chatel), from Medieval Latin capitale "property, stock," noun use of neuter of Latin adjective capitalis "principal, chief" (see capital (n.1)). Compare sense development of fee, pecuniary. Sense originally was of movable property, especially livestock; it began to be limited to "cows and bulls" from late 16c.
双语例句
1. The old stone cattle trough still sits by the main entrance.
陈旧的石制牛食槽仍然放在大门口。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Outside, two old boys lingered on the street corner discussing cattle.
两个老头儿在外面街角迟迟不走，聊着牛的事情。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Cowboys drove covered wagons and rode horses, lassoing cattle.
牛仔们有的赶着大篷车，有的骑着马，抛套索捕牛。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He had sought work as a cowboy, rounding up cattle.
