lintwhite

before 900; lint (syncopated variant of linnet) + white; replacing Middle English lynkwhytte, alteration (perhaps by association with link hill (see links) and whit) of Old English līnetwige linnet, literally, flax (or flax-field) trouble-maker, so called because the bird pecks out and eats flaxseed, equivalent to līnet- (<Medieval Latin līnētum flax-field) + -wige, feminine of wiga fighter