popinjay
(ˈpɒpɪndʒeɪ)
Forms: see below.
[In ME. earliest forms a. OF. (and mod.F.) papegai (12th c.), papingay (13th c. in Godef.), AF. also papeiaye (= -jaye) (1355 in Royal Wills), = Pr. papagai, Sp. papagayo, Pg. papagaio; also MHG. papagey, Ger. papagei MLG. papegoie Du. papegaai. OF. had also papegau, papegau(l)t (13th c.), mod.F. papegaut = Cat. papagall, It. pap(p)agallo, med.L. pap(p)agallus (14th c. in Du Cange), mod.Gr. παπαγάλλος. Other forms were med.Gr. παπαγάς, Arab. babaghā, babbaghā, Pers. also bapghā, med.L. papagen, MHG. papegân. Probably the med.Gr. and Arabic represent the earliest form, due to an imitation of the cry of the bird in some African or other non-European language. The form in -gayo, -gaio, -gai, appears to have arisen by assimilation to the name of the European chattering bird, the jay, med.L. gaius, Sp. gayo, Pr. and ONF. gai, central F. geai (= jai), whence the OF. and ME. papegai and papejai, subsequently changed (? after pape, pope)to popegay and popejay, and (like nightingale, passenger, etc.) to papengay popinjay. The forms in -gallus, -gallo, -gall, -gau, appear to have been assimilated to L. gallus cock; the OF. papegau gave the Sc. papingaw, papingo.]
1. An early name for a parrot. Obs. or arch.
(In all the early forms iay, etc. = jay.)
(α) 4 papiaye, (papeiaie, -gai), 4–5 papeiay, 5 papageye, papeiai, -ioy(e, Sc. pape-iay(e, (7 papgay).
| [a 1310 Papeiai: see 4 a.] 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1465 Pyes & papeiays purtrayed with-inne. c 1386 Chaucer Shipman's T. 369 Hoom he gooth murie as a Papeiay [Harl. papiniay]. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 117 Nyghtgales syngand, and papeiays spekand. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. cx, Vnlike the crow is to the pape-lay. 1483 Cath. Angl. 268/2 A Papeiay (A. A Papeioye). [1653 Papgay: see 3.] |
(β) 4–5 popeiay, 5 popegaye, pope iaye.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xv. 173 Þe pokok and þe popeiay with here proude federes. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxvii. 274 Manye Popegayes that thei clepen Psitakes in hire Langage. |
(γ) 4 papengay, 5 -ioye, papyniay(e, -gaye, papiniay(e, 6 -geay(e, Sc. -gay.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 307 Oon mette hym wiþ a papengay on his hond. 14.. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 101/251 The pellycan and the papynjaye. 1508 Dunbar Twa Mariit Wemen 382, I thoght my self a papingay. |
(δ) 4– popin-, 5–7 popen-, 5–6 popyn-, 6–8 poppin-; 4–7 -gay, 5 -ȝay, -yay, 5–6 -iay, -iaye, -geay, 6 -gaye, -iae, -ioye, -gei, -giay, -gjoye, 6–7 -gaie, -iaie, 6–8 -gey, 7 -gie, -ia, -jaye, -gjay; 7–9 poppinjay, 7– popinjay.
| 1392–3 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 286 Pro j cage pro le popingay. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxvii. 271 Of Popengayes, as gret plentee as men fynden here of Gees. 14.. Chaucer's Merch. T. 1878 (Camb. MS.) Syngith ful muriere than the popyniay [v. rr. -iaye, -gay, popeniay]. 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 625/5 Psitagus, popynyay. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. viii. 84 Ther ben popengayes, whiche ben grene & shynyng lyke pecoks. 1540 Elyot Image Gov. (1556) 7 b, With the tounges of Popingaies, Nightyngales, and other sweete singyng birdes. 1544 Turner Avium Præcip. H vj, Psitacus, Anglicè a popiniay. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 19 There bee also grene popingeays. 1577 Frampton Joyfull Newes iii. (1596) 94 He had eaten much fleshe of Popingeies. 1580 Babington Exp. Lord's Prayer (1596) 20 The Cardinals Popiniay that could pronounce distinctly all the Articles of the Creede. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ix. 349 Of the parrat or poppiniay. These parrats are commonly founde in the woods of Ethiopia. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Ep. Wks. (1711) 156 The artificial notes of the learned popingayes in the guilt cages. 1657 Owen Schism Wks. 1852 XIII. 164 An empty insignificant word like the speech of parrots and popinjays. 1792 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode Directors i, Lo, lofty poets are no longer priz'd, That to an eagle turn'd a popinjay. 1816 Scott Old Mort. ii, The figure of a bird decked with party-coloured feathers, so as to resemble a popinjay or parrot. |
(ε) (Sc.) 6 papinga, -gaw, -go, 8 popingoe.
| 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 63 The complaynt of ane woundit Papingo. a 1550 Freiris of Berwik 148 in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 290 Als prowd as ony papingo. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xv. 37 Ȝe plesand Paun and Papingaw Cast of ȝour blyithlyke cullour. a 1583 A. Arbuthnot Praises of Women in Pinkerton Anc. Scot. Poems I. 142 The papingo in hew Excedis birdis all. [1794 Popingoe: see 3.] |
2. A representation of a parrot. † a. As an ornament: chiefly in tapestry. Obs.
| [1328 Inv. Bp. Stapleton (Hingeston-R.) 566 Tria tapecia crocei coloris pulverizata de papegais.] 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 611 Bryddez on semez, As papiayez paynted pernyng bitwene. a 1400–50 Alexander 5129 With pellicans & papeioyes polischt & grauen. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1480 Perreye in ylke a plas, And papageyes of grene. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 798 A cloth of golde abought your heade, With popinjayes pyght with pery reed. 1546 Inv. Ch. Goods (Surtees, No. 97) 140 One suyt of baldking with popingjoyes. 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 198 They will make a Parret or Popin Jay of mettall, that his tongue shall shake, and his heade move, and his wings flutter. |
b. As a heraldic charge or bearing; also as the sign of an inn.
| c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 817 A popyniay was hys crest; he was of gret dyffence. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2306/4 And the Thursday after, at the Popinjay in Norwich. 1868 Cussans Her. (1882) 92 After the Eagle and the Falcon, the Birds of most frequent occurrence in Armory are the Swan, Game cock, Cornish Chough, Pelican, Heron, Popinjay (or Parrot). [1881 Burke Peerage & Baronetage 7/1 (Sir R. J. Abercromby, Bart.) Three papingoes, vert, beaked and membered, gu.] |
3. The figure of a parrot fixed on a pole as a mark to shoot at. Obs. exc. Hist.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 60, I sawe on a Sondaye this Lent .vi. C. straungiers shotyng at ye Popyngaye with Crosbowes. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 185 There is in each City a shooting with the Peece at a Popingay of wood, set upon some high Steeple. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxiii. 107 Gargantua..shot at but⁓marks, at the papgay [Fr. papegay] from below upwards, or to a height. 1794 Statist. Acc. Scot. XI. 173 One is a perpendicular mark, called a popingoe{ddd}cut out in wood, fixed in the end of a pole, and placed 120 feet high, on the steeple of the monastery. 1816 Scott Old Mort. ii, The chief [sport] was to shoot at the popinjay. 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II. 8 We'll shoot at pride and poppinjays. |
4. fig. † a. Formerly applied to a person in a eulogistic sense, in allusion to the beauty and rarity of the bird. Obs. rare.
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. v. 26 He is papeiai in pyn that beteth me my bale, To trewe tortle in a Tour y telle the mi tale. c 1430 Lydg. Commend. Our Lady 81 O popiniay, plumed with al clennesse. c 1450 Holland Howlat 125 The Pacoke of pryce That was Pape cald..He callit on his cubicular..That was the proper Pape Iaye, provde in his apparale. |
b. More usually taken as a type of vanity or empty conceit, in allusion to the bird's gaudy plumage, or to its mechanical repetition of words and phrases, and thus applied contemptuously to a person: cf. parrot 2.
| 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man 89 b, The prest ought to..Christen them in the english tonge, and not to playe the popengay with Credo saye ye: volo saye ye and baptismum saye ye, for there ought to be no mummynge in soch a mater. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 50, I then, all-smarting, with my wounds being cold, (To be so pestered with a Popingay). a 1618 Raleigh Invent. Shipping 41 Popinjayes that value themselves by their out sides, and by their Players coats. 1678 Otway Friendship in F. v. i, Shall I draw my Cerebrus and cut you off, you gaudy Popinjays? 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxv, The fond fool was decked in a painted coat, and jangling as pert and as proud as any popinjay. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet II. 216, I think the players are better company than your priggish popinjays. |
† 5. The prevailing colour of the green parrot; a shade of green; also attrib. or as adj., as popinjay blue, popinjay colour, popinjay green, popinjay yellow. Obs.
| 1547 Recorde Judic. Ur. 16 b, There are also oyle coloures (that is popingey grene) of iii sortes. 1573 Art of Limming 8 If you mingle Azure and Masticot together, you shal haue thereof a perfite Popinjay greene. 1577 Breton Flourish Fancie (Grosart) 14/2 The colours of her cloath are..red, blewe, greene, Cernation, Yelow and popyniay. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. lxix. 746 Couered with a barke of a light greene or Popingay colour. 1587 Harrison England ii. vii. (1877) i. 172, I might here name..hewes deuised for the nonce..as..popingaie blue. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. 114 If more inclining to a Popingjay, adde more Pinke to your white Lead. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xix. (Roxb.) 157/2 All mixt colours..as carnation, Oreng-tawny, Sky colour, Popengie, Russett, are bastard and dishonorable colours. 1719 D'Urfey Pills II. 19 Beck had a Coat of Popin-jay. 1865 N. & Q. 3rd Ser. VIII. 372/2 Popinjay-green, philomel-yellow, &c., no longer appear in the Army Lists. |
† b. Name of a plant. Obs. rare—0 and doubtful.
| 1658 Phillips, Popingey,..also an Herb, so called from being of the colour of that bird, being a kinde of greenish colour, this Herb is called in Latin Symphonia. |
6. A local name of the green woodpecker.
| [1612 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. 128 Terpsichore would bee expressed..vppon her head a coronet of..those greene feathers of the poppiniaie, in token of that victory, which the Muses got of..the daughters of Pierius,..who after were turned into poppiniaies or wood-peckers.] 1833 G. Montagu's Ornith. Dict. 385 Poppinjay, Picus viridis. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds, Popinjay..has in this country been transferred to the Green Woodpecker. 1902 T. Hardy Mother Mourns Poems 73 My popinjays fail from their tappings. |
Hence ˈpopinjayess, nonce-wd.
| 1890 W. A. Wallace Only a Sister? 192 You sweet future popinjayess. |