Women & Birds

[MWB]

Where & how did women get to be called "birds?"

[Vesper99]

In Chaucer the word byrd meant a woman and the word fowle a bird.
Women were birds before our feathered friends.

[Quizmonster]

'Bird' - sometimes spelt 'brid' - meant the young of our feathered friends as long ago as 800 AD in Anglo-Saxon texts, so you might find something such as 'a hen and her birds'.
It was not until the year 1300 - Chaucer was not born until 1342 - that 'burd(e)' meaning a maiden is first recorded. That was associated with 'bryd', from which we get 'bride'. So, the connection between birds and girls/women is truly ancient but the flying ones definitely appeared first.

[wired]

Is it because they catch worms?? ;-)

[SurreyGuy]

Is it summat to do with tits? :o)