note
Happy-the-monk
<i><blockquote><p>lamb (which comes from l'angneau),</p></blockquote></i>
<p>the choice of the word <i>lamb</i> curiously breaks that schema (which stays valid nearly everywhere else). It is believed to be a much older word from germanic/protogermanic roots, qf the German "<i>Lamm</i>", Dutch & Scandinavian languages "<i>lam</i>", Nedersaksisch "<i>Laom</i>" etc.</p>
<p>Just the other way round <i>mutton</i> is from French <i>mouton</i>, so you have been unhappily mixing the pair the wrong way up.</p>
<p>Cheers, Sören</p>
<p>Later addition: "<i>Billy the Bastard</i>" would indeed have been an appropriate and probably undisputed name for the young William, I learned.</p>
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