The Germans, like the English, had no native name for the rabbit; an animal not indigenous in their country. Hence they borrowed the French name conin, which they altered into kanin; and have since formed the diminutive kaninchen. In Suabian, the form used is küniglein. See Adelung in v. The Dutch word is konÿn.
The rabbit was probably introduced into England from France. Query: When did that introduction take place? Also, when did the later term "rabbit" supersede the old name cony? and what is the etymology of rabbit? The French lapin, which has supplanted the old word conin, is said to be formed from lepinus, an adjective of lepus.
L.
Your solution of the etymology of this word, as coming from Coney-borough, is no doubt correct: but I apprehend the last syllable has a more specific derivation. On the opposite sides of the Lough of Belfast, there are two localities in which this old English word is preserved. This district was, as you are aware, colonised by English settlers about 1590 A.D., when large grants were made to Sir Arthur Chichester, ancestor of the present Marquis of Donegal. At Carrickfergus, on the north side of the bay, there is a spot called the Connyberry, which is a corruption of "Coneyborough;" but on the opposite side, at Holyward, there is a populous rabbit-warren, known as the "Kinnegar;" which I take to be the conynger or coningeria about which your correspondent asks.
J. Emerson Tennent.
NAMES AND NUMBERS OF BRITISH REGIMENTS.
(Vol. vii., p. 155.)
Z.'s third application relative to the names and numbers of regiments has roused me into activity,