Pedigree - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

PEDIGREE, a genealogical tree, a tabular statement of descent (see Genealogy). The word first appears at the beginning of the 15th century and takes an extraordinary variety of forms, &c. It is generally accepted that these point to a corruption of Fr. pied de grue, foot of a crane, and that the probable reference is to the marks resembling the claw of a bird found in old genealogies showing the lines of descent. Such etymologies as Minshea's par degres, by degrees, or pore degres, descent by the father, are mere guesses.