The noun urchin has prickly and ugly roots. It evolved from the Middle English urchoun (sometimes spelled yrchoun), which meant “hedgehog” and ultimately came from the Latin ericius (also meaning “hedgehog”) by way of the Old Northern French herichon. When the English form changed to urchin circa 1528, the word soon took on additional meanings and was applied to things regarded in those days to be as ugly as a hedgehog: hunchbacks, goblins and elves, ill-tempered old women, and, of course, mischievous and raggedy youngsters. During the early seventeenth century, however, the word lost all senses but that of “an impish and unkempt child,” though an allusion to the original sense of “hedgehog” has been retained in the open compound sea urchin.
©2020 Michael R. Gates
