Part of that fashion was to have specific words for groups of animals and then, because it was trendy, people got carried away and starting inventing collective nouns for animals no-one would want to hunt.Īnd that’s how it started… with books suggesting new names for groups of new animals: a caravan of camels, a skein of ducks, a business of flies, a murmuration of starlings, an exaltation of larks, etc. Just like computer nerds like to use language that the rest of us don’t understand, it was the same with hunting in 14 th and 15 thcentury England. Hunting was a popular pastime or sport and it became fashionable to use words and terms that were specific to hunting activities in other words, jargon! So, when did English speakers start taking words from different parts of English and applying them to groups of animals? Shrewdnessis a characteristic of a clever or wise person. A drayis a kind of truck or wagon used for transporting goods (especially beer). Surely, these are odd words to use?! They all have more common meanings. How about a pride of lions? Or a pod of dolphins? Maybe a dray of squirrels? And if you like primates, you’d probably enjoy a shrewdnessof apes. They don’t tend to have other meanings.īut…, when it comes to specific species and group of animals, we get a little more creative. These words – “shoal”, “flock”, “herd” – basically just mean a group or a collection of that type of animal. They have a shoal of fish, a flock of birds, a herd of cattle and so on. Most languages have words that indicate a group of animals and English is no different. They say the English are an eccentric people and maybe the proof is in the English language because if there was ever an “ unconventional and slightly strange” language, surely it’s English?! Let me offer you an example: collective nouns for animals. Collective Nouns for Groups of Animals in English

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