Droppings or dung of a deer, especially as tracked during a hunt.
From Old French 'fumet' (smoke, scent, or droppings), related to 'fum' meaning smoke or scent. In hunting terminology, 'fewmets' refers to deer droppings because their scent was crucial for tracking. The term preserves Old French hunting vocabulary imported after the Norman Conquest.
Hunting terminology preserves an entire vocabulary of Old French in English—we also have 'venison,' 'pork,' and 'beef' from Norman hunters, while peasants said 'pig' and 'cow'! This class divide in vocabulary shows how the Norman conquest shaped English's social layers.
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