In message , Phil L
writes
Dave wrote:
Mary Fisher wrote:


There are collar doves, blackbirds, tits (coal and blue) and
sparrows in there and possibly others.

Mary, can you tell me how the tit family got its name?
I tried a google for an answer and got the obvious mammary return.

Dave

p.s. This is a valid question raised in the real ale pub that I have
to attend every day :-)

Tit is an old Germanic word for "small" and is used in various northern
European languages to refer to small objects, animals, or people, especially
girlsfor example, titta is a Norwegian dialect word for "little girl." The
word is most common in American English in combinations that denote various
small birds, such as the titmouse or tomtit. A titman in the 19th century
could mean a small or stunted person, as Henry David Thoreau indicates when
he calls his generation "a race of tit-men." Tit and titman are still used
in New England, mostly by farmers to refer to the runt of a litter of pigs.


So how did it come to be associated with breasts then ?

--
geoff