Nam et Galli, ut diximus [190] populi sunt, et Cybeles sacerdotes sic vocabantur, et aliis quibusdam idem nomen convenit. Varro[1] plerasque volucrum a vocibus suis dictas tradit, atque inter eas Gallinam, et Anserem in primis nominat. Ego Gallinam eiusmodi vocem edere numquam audivi, nec apud alium legi: quod si vero consimilem vocem ederet hoc avium genus, cur non et ita Graecis dicitur? Quare satis non laudare nequeo Iosephum Scaligerum[2], qui dictionem Gallus παρὰ τὸ κάλλος derivat. {Κάλλος} <Κάλλαιον> autem palea est, quae hisce avibus quasi solis convenit. Ornithologus[3] Pumiliones simpliciter Gallinas alibi interpretatur: mihi contra illae diversum, ac peculiare genus esse videntur, ut post dicam, simpliciter vero Gallinas existimo quas Varro villaticas, Plinius villares, et altiles, Columella cohortales aves appellat.[4]

For the Galli - the Gauls - are also a people, as I said, and the priests of Cybele were so called, and the same name is befitting some others. Varro records that the majority of birds takes the name from their calls, and among them he quotes first of all the hen and the goose. I never heard the gallina - hen - to utter such a sound, nor did I ever read in someone else: if truly this genus of birds utters such a sound, why is it not thus called by the Greeks as well? Therefore I cannot sufficiently praise Joseph Scaliger for deriving the term gallus from parà tò kállos - from the beauty. In fact kállaion {is the wattle} <is the comb>, which in some way is belonging only to these birds. The Ornithologist elsewhere is interpreting bantam hens merely as hens: on the contrary it seems to me that they are a different and a specific breed, as I shall tell later, and sincerely I think that they are simply hens those called by Varro courtyard hens, by Pliny of farm and to be fattened, by Columella barnyard birds.

Gallus periphrastice variis modis a Poëtis vocatur, ut ales excubitor {Virgilio} <Vergilio>[5].

Excubitorque diem cantu {patefecerat} <praedixerat> ales,

Avis lucis Martiali.[6]

Cristataeque sonant undique lucis aves.

Ales cristati oris Ovidio.[7]

Non vigil ales ibi cristati cantibus oris, etc.

Eodem modo de Gallinis periphrastice loquuntur, unde Ovidio, et Martiali Cortis, sive cohortis aves dicuntur: Ovidius,[8]

Abstulerat multas {ille} <illa> cohortis aves. Martialis[9]

Si {Lybicae} <Libycae> volucres nobis, et Phasides essent,

Acciperes, at nunc accipe cortis aves.

The cock is called in various ways by poets, having recourse to periphrases, like sentry bird by Vergil:  

And by his crowing the winged sentinel had announced the day.
Bird of light by Martial:  
And everywhere resound the combed birds of light.  
Head combed bird by Ovid.  
Not here the watchful head combed bird with songs, etc.  
Alike they say with periphrases about hens, whence by Ovid and Martial they are called barnyard or pen’s birds. Ovid:  
She - the fox - had taken away many pen’s birds.  
Martial:

If we had Libyan and Phasian birds,
You would receive them, but now accept barnyard birds.

Comici, teste Hermolao Gallinas quandoque Mylacridas vocant: quanquam Aristophanes[10] ita appellet bestiolam, quae inter molas nascitur. Pullus generale nomen est omnium alitum, et quadruped<i>um etiam quorundam foetus, pulli dicuntur, ut equi, et asini, sed praecipue avium, et inter eas Gallinarum maxime per excellentiam. Invenimus vero pullos pro Gallinaceis absolute poni apud Vegetium[11], aliosque. Plinius[12] etiam arborum atque plantarum pullos dixit, unde verba, pullulare, pullescere, pullulascere, et pullatio pro foetura pullorum apud Columellam[13]. Quidam etiam ex recentioribus faeminino genere pullas efferunt. Pullaster, vel pullastra significat Gallum, vel Gallinam adolescentes. Ita et a M. Varrone[14] Pullastrae dicuntur Gallinae iuvencae, dum ait: {Ea qua subijcias potius e vetulis, quam e Pullastris} <et ea quae subicias, potius vetulis quam pullitris,>. Quare Grapaldum satis mirari nequeo, qui Pullastrum, et Pullastram neoterice (ut eius dictione utar) vocari scribit. Hermolaus vero, Sipontinus, et Platina, pullastrae vocabulo pro parva Gallina utuntur. Augustus, ut Tranquillus[15] memorat, {Pulleiacium} <Pulleiaceum>[16] pro Pullo dicere solebat. Lampridius[17] Pullicenos appellat parvos pullos, quasi pullicenus diminutivum sit a pullo. Eius verba sunt. Servos habuit vectigales, qui eos ex ovis, et pullicenis et Pipionibus alerent. Sed forte potius legas pullicinis. Haec enim vox ad Italorum pulcino, vel pullicino propius accedit, quos eam a veteribus Romanis retinuisse probabile est. Gallum Itali Gallo dicunt, Gallinam, Gallina: Galli, Gallum un coq Gau, Gaeu, Gal, Cog, quarum vocum prima, et ultima a Graeco κόττος derivatae videri possunt. Gallinam vero Geline, vel Poule, {Sebaudi} <Sabaudi> eisdem vocibus utuntur, sed Gallinam etiam {Genilette} <Gelinette> vocant. Hispanis etiam Gallus Gallo appellatur, et Gallina, Gallina. Hun dictio Germanica[18] tam Gallo, quam Gallinae quadrat, Gallum vero Han, Hansshan, Gul, et Guggel, et Gallinam Hen. Angli Gallum Cok, Gallinam Hen. Aegyptii Gallinas pingues appellant Maluph, ut scribit Prosper Alpinus[19] praestantissimus medicus, et in celeberrimo Patavino gymnasio simplicium medicamentorum professor. Pullus Italis Pollo vocatur, Pollastro, et Pulcino, sed hic tener adhuc, et implumis, Pollastro maiusculus, et iam mensis aptus. Gallis poulsin, pol, pollet, Cochet, et pollaille, de pullastra adultiore. Germanis[20] Huonle, Hunckel: Anglis chijk, Flandris kijcken, Hollandis Kuijcken.

The comic poets, witness is Hermolaus, sometimes call hens mylakrídas: although Aristophanes is so calling an insect which originates among millstones. Pullus - chick - is a usual name for all birds, and also offspring of some quadrupeds like horse and donkey are called pulli, but chiefly of birds, and among them par excellence mainly of hens. Truly in Vegetius and others we find that pulli is used exclusively for gallinaceous. Pliny called pulli also those of trees and plants, whence the verbs pullulare, pullescere, pullulascere - to sprout, and in Columella pullatio - sitting on eggs - for incubation of chicks. Some among more recent writers give them in the feminine gender with pullae. Pullaster or pullastra means young cock or hen. So also by Marcus Varro are called pullastrae the young hens, when he says: and those eggs you place under, it is preferable under rather old hens than under pullets. Which is why I cannot enough admire Francesco Mario Grapaldi who writes that neoterice - in modern speech - (to use his own expression) they are called pullaster and pullastra. Verily, Hermolaus, Nicolò Perotto and Platina use the word pullastra for a little hen. Augustus, as Suetonius Tranquillus reminds, used to say pulleiacius for pullus. Lampridius calls little chicks pulliceni, as though pullicenus were a diminutive from pullus. His words are: He had hired servants, so as they feed them with eggs, with pulliceni and pigeons. But perhaps one should rather read pullicini. For this word sounds more like pulcino or pullicino of Italians, who probably have retained it from ancient Romans. The Italians call gallo the gallus, gallina the gallina: the French call the gallus un coq, Gau, Gaeu, Gal, Cog, whose words the first and the last could appear to be derived from the Greek kóttos - rooster according to Hesychius. Whereas they call the hen geline, or poule, the inhabitants of Savoy use the same words, but they call the hen also gelinette. By Spaniards too the cock is called gallo, and the hen gallina. The German word Hün fits both rooster and hen, but they call the rooster Hahn, Hausshahn, Gul and Güggel, and the hen Huhn. The English call the rooster cock; the hen hen. The Egyptians call fat hens maluph, as writes Prosper Alpinus, most excellent physician and professor of simple medicaments at the very renowned gymnasium in Padua. Pullus by Italians is called pollo, pollastro and pulcino, but the latter when is still very young and featherless, pollastro when is a little more grown-up and already fit for tables. By French is called pulsin, pol, pollet, cochet, and polaille for a pullastra more adult. By Germans is called Huenle, Hünckel: by English chijk, by Flemish kijcken, by Dutch kuijcken.

Cum vero pleraque, quae de ovis scribuntur passim ab authoribus, de Gallinarum intelligantur, non ab re, quin operae pretium, ac omnino necessarium iudico, non tantum hic eorum synonyma, verumetiam quomodo singulae partes appellentur, recensere. Ova itaque Hebraice bezah dici invenio. In lexico trilingui ביזא et ביא beza, et beia scribitur. Arabes beid, vel baid vocant, ut apud Avicennam videre est. Apud Serapionem naid legitur, quod non probo, Sylvaticus baadh scribit pro Arabica voce, et alibi barch, et elbair, nescio cuius linguae vocabula ova interpretatur, sed forte etiam Arabica fuerint, et corrupta. Latini ovum a Graecorum ᾠόν derivasse videntur, interposita litera v euphoniae gratia. Graeci[21] vero ὠόν, teste Etymologo, dixerunt, quasi οἶον, hoc est solitarium, quia singula pariantur, Poëtarum aliqui[22] ovum ὤϊον vocant, vel ὄιϊον, si recte scribitur, Eustathius[23] hoc omittit, ὤεον et ὤϊον tantum habet. Apud Athenaeum[24] etiam ὤεον legitur. Alii ὠαρίον, dicunt forma diminutiva.

Since without doubt most of which here and there is written by authors on eggs is referring to those of the hens, I don’t reckon useless, on the contrary it is worthwhile and absolutely necessary, to examine here not only their synonyms, but also how each of their parts is named. So I find that eggs are called bezah in Hebrew. Both beza and beia are written in the trilingual lexicon. The Arabs call them beid or baid, as one can see in Avicenna. In Serapion naid is read, which I do not approve, Matthaeus Sylvaticus writes baadh for the Arabic word, and elsewhere barch, and elbair, I don’t know of what language he translates the words eggs, but perhaps were also Arabic, and corrupt. It seems that Latins derived ovum from øión of Greeks, after they interposed a letter v for euphony. Bearing witness the Etymologist, actually Greeks said øón, nearly oîon, that is solitary, because they are laid one at a time, some poets call the egg øïon, or óiïon, if it is correctly written, Eustathius is omitting this, and he has only øeon and øïon. In Athenaeus one can also read øeon. Others say øaríon in the diminutive form.