Male goat, also called a billy or buck

Baby goats, called kids

The domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) is a domesticated subspecies of the wild goat of southwest Asia and eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the bovine family, and is closely related to the sheep, both being in the goat antelope group.

Domestic goats are one of the oldest domesticated species. For thousands of years,^[1] goats have been utilized for their milk, meat, hair, and skins all over the world. In the last century they have also gained some popularity as pets.^[2]

Female goats are referred to as does or nannies, intact males as bucks or billies; their offspring are kids. Castrated males are wethers. Goat meat is sometimes called chevon.

Etymology

The Modern English word "goat" comes from the Old English "gat" which meant "she-goat" which itself derived from Proto-Germanic "*gaitaz" (compare Old Norse and Dutch "geit", German "Geiß" and Gothic "gaits" all meaning "goat") ultimately from Proto-Indo-European "*ghaidos" meaning "young goat" but also "play" (compare Latin "hædus" meaning "kid"). The word for "male goat" in Old English was "bucca" (which now exists as the word buck, meaning any male herbivore) until a shift to "he-goat/she-goat" occurred in the late 12th century."Nanny goat" originated in the 18th century and "billy goat" in the 19th.

History

Goats seem to have been first domesticated roughly 10,000 years ago in the Zagros Mountains of Iran.^[3] Ancient cultures and tribes began to keep them for easy access to milk, hair, meat, and skins. Domestic goats were generally kept in herds that wandered on hills or other grazing areas, often tended by goatherds who were frequently children or adolescents, similar to the more widely known shepherd. These methods of herding are still utilized today.

Historically, goathide has been used for water and wine bottles in both traveling and transporting wine for sale. It has also been used to produce parchment, which was the most common material used for writing in Europe until the invention of the printing press.

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Domestic_goat&action=history

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html