Jennet

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The definition of jennet varies depending on location and on the antiquity of the usage. It may mean a small Spanish horse, a female donkey, or a hybrid produced by a male horse and a female donkey, the opposite of the traditional mule-producing pairing of a female horse with a male donkey.

1 Spanish origin of the term
2 Contemporary meanings in United Kingdom versus North America
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Spanish origin of the term

According to the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, jennet referred to a small Spanish horse and was sometimes applied in English to a mule, "the offspring of a she-ass and a stallion." Although the 2000 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary also defines jennet, with the alternative spelling genet, as a small Spanish saddle horse, this is meaning is rarely used in Modern English.

In the etymology provided by the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, jennet is derived from the French genet, from Spanish jinete, a light horseman who rides a la gineta, explained as "with his legs tucked up." The term is taken to be a corruption of the Arabic Zenata, a Berber tribe famed for its cavalry. English and French transferred the word from the rider to the horse, a meaning which the word has only acquired in Spain in modern times. The American Heritage Dictionary's etymology is similar, citing the Middle English genet, from Old French, from the Catalan ginet, of Arabic or Berber origin.[1]

[edit] Contemporary meanings in United Kingdom versus North America

In contemporary North American usage, jennet and jenney or jenny refer to a female donkey, as a female horse would be called a mare. A female mule is not called a jennet; she is properly called a mare mule. A female hinny is not called a jennet either; she is called a mare hinny. However, in the United Kingdom, jennet refers to what fanciers in the United States call a hinny. In the United Kingdom, a female donkey is not called a jennet; she is either called a mare or a jenny, and a male donkey is called a stallion rather than a jack or jackass [2] although the term jack is gaining greater usage. In either case, hinny (in the U.S.) or jennet (in the UK) refers to a type of mule.

Zoologists may casually use mule to refer to many kinds of sterile hybrids. However, among the general public, the term is understood to refer to a hybrid of horse and donkey. Such hybrids are usually, but not always, sterile. Among farmers and animal fanciers, mule is specifically understood to be the offspring of a male donkey, often called a jackass, and a female horse. The opposite pairing, the female donkey with the male horse, produces a mule in the general sense, but which is specifically identified as a jennet, jenney, or jenny in the UK and a hinny in the U.S.

As horses are much larger than donkeys, it is easier for a female horse to successfully carry and deliver the hybrid than it is for the much smaller female donkey. Although there are genetic and behavioral reasons as well, the size difference is the traditional reason cited to explain the relative rarity of hinnies in comparison to mules.

Jennet is also an old-English girl's name, derived originally from John. Jennet was the first name of the daughter of one of the Pendle Hill Witches.