Bird etymology

Question

This might seem a little infantile but I was wondering if there was this connection in bird names?
"bluetit" and "redbreast"

Both "tit" and "breast" can be used to refer to the same part of the human anatomy so are the two names etymologically related?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

ImDarkerThanYouBoth "***" and "breast" can be used to refer to the same part of the human anatomy so are the two names etymologically related?

No.

***: 1540s, a word used for any small animal or object (as in compound forms such as titmouse, tomtit, etc.); also used of small horses. Similar words in related senses are found in Scandinavian (Icelandic tittr, Norwegian tita "a little bird"), but the connection and origin are obscure; perhaps, as OED suggests, the word is merely suggestive of something small. Used figuratively of persons after 1734, but earlier for "a girl or young woman" (1590s), often in deprecatory sense of "a hussy, minx."

breast: Old English breost "breast, bosom; mind, thought, disposition," from Proto-Germanic *breustam "breast" (cognates: Old Saxon briost, Old Frisian briast, Old Norse brjost, Dutch borst, German brust, Gothic brusts), perhaps literally "swelling" and from PIE root *bhreus- "to swell, sprout" (cognates: Middle Irish bruasach "having a broad, strong chest," Old Irish bruinne "breast"). The spelling conforms to the Scottish and northern England dialectal pronunciation. Figurative sense of "seat of the emotions" was in Old English.

Bird etymology

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