Calfhirde

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person whose job is to look after and herd young calves while they graze in the fields
2. Someone who tends and guards calves, keeping them together and safe as they feed on pasture
3. An attendant responsible for watching over young cattle and driving the calves to grazing ground

Etymology: A calfhirde was a herdsman whose charge was young cattle: the person who kept the calves together and out of trouble. The word is a plain compound of "calf" and "herd," with "herd" in its older sense of a keeper or tender of animals, not a group of them. English has long used "herd" both ways, which is why the two senses can look like one word. The "herd" in this compound comes from Old English "hierde," meaning herdsman, while the word for a group of animals comes from a separate Old English noun, "heord." The two merged in form over the centuries, so the modern "herd" covers both the person who tends animals and the animals themselves. Compounds like calfhirde, with a livestock noun plus "herd" for the keeper, show how common that role once was in rural English.