The leg muscles of newborn calves are often knotted and rippled, especially if the calves are born to undernourished cows. Sometime during the 1300s, people, especially when they'd been drinking a lot, noticed a resemblance between a calf's lumpy leg and the fleshy back part of a human leg below the knee.

Thus they started calling this feature of the human anatomy a "calf." And, no, I'm not pulling your leg.

Now let's look at some other critters that inspired English words ...

— Quinsy — This abscess causes a sore throat so severe that you feel as if a dog's choke collar is tightening around your neck. And, guess what? That's what the word originally meant.

It comes from the Greek word for a sore throat, "kynanche," from "kyon" (dog) and "ancho" (choke). "Kynanche" became "quinancia" in medieval Latin and entered Middle English as "quinesye."

— rankle — When something rankles you, it irritates you, gnaws at you like a little dragon in your stomach. That's fitting, because "rankle" is derived from "dragon."

The Latin word for dragon was "draco." Because the stomach sore we call an ulcer felt like a dragon breathing fire, the Romans called it a "dracunculus" (little dragon).

"Dracunculus" entered French as "draoncler," which eventually morphed into "rancler," denoting any festering sore.

"Rancler" was adopted into English as "ranclen," meaning "to fester," and eventually became "rankle," meaning "to cause chronic anger or irritation," the way a festering sore causes pain.

— Muscle — The Romans noticed a similarity between a human muscle and a mouse. If you're wondering how the heck they saw the resemblance, try this experiment.

(Warning: If you're sitting at your desk in the office right now or riding on a bus, it would be wise to postpone this activity until you're in the privacy of your own home.)

Roll up the shirt sleeve on one of your arms high enough to expose the elbow joint. Now form a 90-degree angle between your lower and upper arm and make a muscle in your upper arm. You'll see that the muscle looks something like a mouse's plump body, while the thin tendon running across the elbow joint looks a lot like a mouse's tail. Or as Polonius might have put it, "Very like a mouse!"

The Latin word for "mouse" was "mus," so the Romans dubbed this structure "musculus" (little mouse), which became "muscle" in English. Picture the cartoon character Mighty Mouse or, better yet, Rocky Balboa with a little mouse tattooed on his biceps.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Photo credit: Glen Carrie at Unsplash