Two word histories: urchin < Middle English urchone < Old French erichon 'hedgehog' < Vulgar Latin *ērīciō, ērīciōnis, < Latin ēricius 'hdegehog'. Their shell is called a test < Latin testa 'shell; jug, crockpot' whence most of the Romance words for 'head'. The gonads of the sea urchin (which because it is a hermaphrodite produces milt and roe) are called uni in Japanese (ウニ, 海胆, 海栗, 雲丹) and is very popular in sushi restaurants.
How did urchin evolve the meaning of a homeless child, as in "street urchin?"
A great question, Asa. I don't know. (A WAG would be from the kids' hair being all spiky.) Calling people animals has a long history: fox, pig, puppyish. In Parisian French slang a scamp is called a môme or a gamin. This was Edith Piaf's nickname La Môme Piaf 'kid sparrow'.
[Addendum: It seems the common opinion is that it is an extension of the earlier meaning of urchin 'goblin, elf', cf. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor IV.iv.50., The Tempest II.ii.5.]
[Addendum 2: The OED1 has citations from the 16th century for both the goblin and mischievous child. The editor suggests that the goblin meaning is because of the superstition that goblins sometimes turned into hedgehogs.]This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,
Originally posted by zmježd: The editor suggests that the goblin meaning is because of the superstition that goblins sometimes turned into hedgehogs.
This is interesting, I've never heard anything like this before. I can't find any specific citations for this, but google searches are either turning up too many irrelevant results, and quotation searches are turning up nothing at all.
