also PRIMCOCK, PRIME-COCKE, PRIMECOCKS, PRINCOCKES, PRINCOCKS, PRINCOX, PRINCOXE, PRINCY-COCK (dialect), PRINKOCKES, PRINKOX, PRYNCOCK from E-NED: Etymology and original form obscure; the form -cocks, -cox appears earlier than -cock. One suggestion is that the first element is prime, but though primecock is used by Florio, this looks rather like an etymological manipulation; other early writers held it for an alteration of Latin præcox ‘early, precocious’. Apparently the word was originally of slang or low use, perhaps somewhat obscene or equivocal. From:
Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Diuell Written by Thomas Nash, Gent Printed 1592 A New Letter of Notable Contents, Printed by John Wolfe, 1593 P. 21
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