Confounded Asinine Names! Trivia Quiz

Answer: ass

What scientists call Equus asinus, commonly referred to as the donkey, burro, or jackstock, is originally and better termed the ass. (Thus in John 12:14 of the King James or Authorized version of the Bible it reads, "And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon" -- not "donkey").

Over time, the term 'ass' became confounded with 'arse', referring to the human derriere (and it remains so in North America, which has dropped 'arse' completely), so the easily embarrassed Victorians replaced it 'donkey' or 'jackstock', much as they substituted 'rooster' for 'cock' and 'drumstick' for 'leg'. The word 'donkey' precedes Victorians, though, as a familiar name for an ass, starting in the 1780s.

Even though the ass is a patient, intelligent, and surefooted beast, it has nonetheless been used since ancient times to represent stupidity and clumsiness, such as in Shakespeare's "to make an ass of oneself" in a 'Midsummer Night's Dream'.

Answer: jennet or jenny

A female donkey is properly called a 'jennet', from the Middle English 'genet'. This was imported after the Norman Conquest from the Old French, in turn from either the Old Catalan 'genet' or Old Spanish 'ginete', a soldier mounted on a horse and armed with a lance. Both terms come from Arabic 'zanātī', referring to the 'Zanāta', a confederation of Berber tribes known for equestrian accomplishments.

As often happens, the sense in English transferred from the rider to his mount, but how it came to mean a female ass is more obscure. 'Jennet' became corrupted to 'jenny', and some sources list this as the only term now for the female, but don't be fooled.

'Jennet' or 'genet' also refers to the small Spanish horse of medieval times, which the modern Spanish Jennet Horse has been bred to resemble.

Answer: jack or jackass

By the 15th century, the proper name Jack became used to refer to male animals, not just the jackass but also the jackdaw (a male daw, or crow), for example. The term became equated with "fool" by the 19th century, even though donkeys are really intelligent creatures.

Not only smart, donkeys are very social and live in herds that are usually, though not necessarily, headed by one jack. If there are multiple jacks, only one is typically the dominant.

Answer: burro

'Burro' comes directly from the Spanish. In Latin America, a burro refers to a smaller donkey used for work. In the USA, it may refer to any donkey, and generally speaking, 'burro' is more commonly used west of the Mississippi River, while 'donkey' is more commonly used east of the Mississippi River.

Answer: mule

Asses and horses belong to the same genus (Equus), but they comprise distinct species (Equus asinus vs. Equus caballus). Asses are smaller and have longer ears than horses.

When a male ass (jackass) is mated with a female horse (mare), the foal produced is a mule. Taxonomically speaking, this would be "E. asinus × E. caballus". A male mule is almost always sterile; a female mule *might* be able to produce offspring, but don't stake the farm on that.

Mules have been valued in farming and transportation because they have a horse's size and a donkey's endurance, and they are stronger than either species.

The English 'mule' comes directly from the French 'mule' meaning a female mule (the male being 'mul'). The Greek root 'myklos' ("pack-mule") likely came from some language in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).

Answer: hinny

Cross a female donkey (jennet or jenny) with a male horse (stallion), and you get a hinny, a term which didn't appear in English until the 17th century, from the Greek 'ginnos'. Taxonomically speaking this is "E. caballus × E. asinus".

Given the size difference between a horse and a donkey, a mule is much easier to be conceived and born alive than a hinny. Another problem is that horses have 64 chromosomes, whereas donkeys have 62, giving their offspring 63. When the chromosomal count is lower in the sire (male parent) than in the dam (female parent), breeding tends to be more successful, and the offspring have a greater chance of not being sterile.

Hinnies are smaller than mules, and they have shorter ears and thicker manes and horsier tails. Whereas mules have a donkey-like head, hinnies have a more horse-like head.

A male hinny is a 'horse hinny' and a female hinny is a 'mare hinny'. Confusingly, in the UK a mare hinny and female donkey are both sometimes called 'jennets', even though the term properly refers to a female donkey.

Answer: horse mule

Horse mules (strictly male mules) are sterile. Nonetheless they should be gelded, otherwise they will be almost impossible to control once they reach sexual maturity, and even gelded they might prove difficult if they see a mare. Some farmers and breeders may refer to any horse mule as a 'john' or a 'john mule', but this properly refers only to a gelding.

A horse mule under age 3 or 4 is a 'mule colt'.

Answer: molly

Formally, a female mule is a 'mare mule', but very often in the USA and elsewhere, they are called 'mollies', particularly if they exhibit estrus cycles, which means they might reproduce. Again, don't bet on it; fewer than 60 successful births have been documented since 1570! Sometimes 'molly' is improperly used to refer to all mare mules, not just the potentially fertile ones. If she's under 3 or 4 years of age, she is called a 'mule filly'.

Answer: saddle mule

Mules such as these have dams (female parents) from breeds of horse used for riding. They may vary in size, but they exhibit the conformation of a riding horse. Don't put a horse saddle on a saddle mule, however; you need to get a special mule saddle for a saddle mule. (Read that again.)

Answer: pack mule

Cross a jackass with a mare (female horse) from a breed of draft horse (the biggest, stongest horses for heavy work) or some other kind of work horse, and you get a pack mule. Packhorses and pack mules are used to transport goods not in wagons but directly on their backs, perhaps in sidebags or perhaps in a pannier (a pair of bags or boxes or wicker baskets slung over an animal's back or shoulders).