why is a dog 'in whelp' and whelping?

such a weird word to? why not pregnant? giving brith? or in pup?

I say that my cats are 'in kitten' and 'giving birth'

where / how . why did the 'whelping' word come about??

__________________

whelp is the word for a young dog or animal, so presume it was because of that, so sort means with young animal, like people say with child.

__________________

48views, no one else no either lol


Ahhhhhhhhhh that actually kinda makes sense!!

__________________

Yep.... where as babies in the womb are called a foetus, puppies in the womb are called whelps

__________________

SOMETIMES YOUR KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR IS MERELY AN IDIOT WRAPPED IN TINFOIL

Surely not, a puppy is just as much foetus as a baby is. I cant say I have ever heard a pregnant mother refer to her bump as a foetus though! Foetus is the medical term and is how it would be described by a vet or doctor.

The word whelp just means dog I think or in fact any young thing - in old books babies or young children are often called whelps in a derogatory fashion.
So it would have come about that when a bitch had pups she was whelping as she was going to produce whelps - as a cow calves, a mare foals, a goat kids and a ewe lambs. You could just as easily say she is pupping but whelping (the old fashioned word) has stuck.