Prudery can be deceptive

None but a fool would think that sheep are so called because they are sheepish; plainly, sheepish people are so called because they are (supposedly) like sheep. But what about rams? Are they so called because they ram things, or is, rather, ramming things so called because it's the sort of thing rams do? Or perhaps there is actually no etymological or conceptual relation between the words at all? The OED is inconclusive.  There is a second sense of the verb "ram", though, which it defines somewhat curiously: "to leap (the ewe)". One can well imagine someone reading this and not quite catching the drift.  Fortunately the illustrative sentences are rather more straightfoward: "A Ram, Rutteth or Rammeth the Ewe", and "hey will not be ridden, tupp'd, and ramm'd".

They are using the ninth meaning of "leap": "Of certain beasts: To spring upon (the female) in copulation". I would not think this numbers among the best practices of a dictionary.

Comments

[bitchphd]

Ramming something is called ramming because of rams. Surely.

[LizardBreath]

Likewise, are ducks ducks because they duck beneath the water to feed?

[ben wolfson]

Yes. And drakes are drakes because they breathe fire!

[Nakku]

I have fond memories of Shearing the Rams, not to mention Ramming the Shears (down the page).

[Anon]

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo...