The term leveret, used to describe young hares, has its origins in the Old French word levrat, a diminutive of levre meaning “hare”. The term levre itself comes from the Latin word lepore, derived from the ablative singular form lepus, which means “hare”. The evolution of the word from Latin to Old French likely involved a change from p to v due to an intermediate vowel, β. Interestingly, the Latin word lepus has an uncertain origin but is speculated to have connections to an Iberian dialect, as indicated by cognates found in now-extinct regional languages. This connection is particularly intriguing in light of Harvard’s Leverett House, named after a family with a history of rabbit hunting, as evidenced by the presence of bunnies on their shield.
