Muley Hunter

We've talked in PM but i'm still trying to understand your thinking.


Let's say you have a newborn sheep and a newborn deer on the ground. You're asked the question..........Which one is the lamb?

Your answer would be? "They both are".



Here's another way to put it. You're asked. What's the difference between a fawn and a lamb? Your answer would be what?

Mr. Slim

why not call it a baby deer and not argue about it. who cares what someone else calls it.

REM_7600

Fair!

CalHunter

If you like calling it veal, who cares? It's your dinner table. How many of us have fudged a little when serving some game meat to a guest just to get them to try it?

Muley Hunter

You can even call it a lamb.

REM_7600

Trust me guys,

It isn't the first time I've taken grief for it.

REM7600

Muley Hunter

I'm not surprised. Hunters in general know wildlife better than the average person. Animals have proper names. It's so everybody knows what you're talking about and is on the same page.

If you told me you saw a lamb with no picture. I'd assume you saw a baby sheep. It makes it easier than making up names. Would you call a moose an elk? It's no difference.

In talking to you in a PM I can see you're a good guy. It's just the name thingy that's a bit strange.

Muley Hunter

Before someone calls me on it. I used a bad example. I know a moose in Europe is called an elk. You know what I meant.

Oldtimr

What do they know in Europe? I wouldn't worry about what they do.

MudderChuck

Etymology was a serious interest for a few years, I took courses in Latin and Etymology. The Only related English courses I ever really enjoyed.

Going back and looking at the evolution of both words.

Lamb *can be* basically, "innocent".

Fawn can be the young of any animal, "young animal".

Language evolves.

Here, large ruminant young are called Kalb (Calf) small Ruminant young are call Kitz.

They may call them Lambs (just a guess) because they make a very similar noise when they are calling their mothers. A Doe may abandon a very youngFawn when threatened, my take on it is they lead the predator away. Fawn are scent neutral, hard to find. Fawn will bleat to lead the mother back to the spot where she left the Fawn, often after dark.