:pop·in·jay - (pŏp'ĭn-jā')
-A vain, talkative person.
This time decided to dwell on the word which actually traces its origin to the arabic set of words. This word was originally used to denote a parrot. It travelled along with the bird from africa and after suitable modifications from the arabic 'babbaga', through Spanish 'papagayo' and Old French ' 'papeiaye', it was recorded as 'papengay' in the earlier english versions. It finally ended as popinjay after people thought it was used to describe a certain jay.
The word derives its meaning from its earlier associations with the parrot, which is identified as gaudy, sqwaking and a tendency to repeat what it hears without understanding.
According to the British language commentator Michael Quinion "This deeply insulting word is now rather dated or literary."
A good example can be found in Joseph Conrad’s short story The End of the Tether of 1902: “When he looked around in the club he saw only a lot of conceited popinjays too selfish to think of making a good woman happy”.
