That the zun kum peping auver the hills,
And the burds wakin up they did un espy,
And wur arl in a churm az un whetted their bills.”
The word was doubtless in the first place an onomatopoieia, denoting the humming, buzzing sound of wings. Since, however, it was particularly connected with birds, it seems to have been used in the sense of music and song by our Elizabethan poets, and by Milton. Thus:—
“Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet
With charm of earliest birds.”
(Paradise Lost, Book iv. 642.)
And again:—
“Morn when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds.”