Half And Half

After a lot of nagging from our environmentally-conscious teenage daughter, Freya, we recently bought a hybrid car which has two engines: internal combustion and electrical. When I researched the word hybrid, I learned that it derives from a specific Latin term referring to the offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar.

While looking this up, I discovered that I'd previously been wrong in my understanding that a mule was a cross between a horse and a donkey. In fact a mule is the offspring of a jackass and a mare. (The pairing of a stallion and a she-donkey is called a hinny.)

Incidentally, if you watch a lot of crime drama, or just read the newspapers, you'll know that mule is used as a term for a drug smuggler. I was amazed to learn that this term has been in use since at least as far back as 1935.

I did wonder if the word mules, for backless shoes, shared any of this history. But this word derives from the Latin mulleus, a soft shoe made of coloured fabric worn by Roman magistrates.

One word, two very different meanings!