swineherd

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English swinherde, inherited from Old English swīnhyrde,^[2][3][4][5] formed from Old English swīn (“swine”) + hyrde (“herdsman”),^[3][4][6] that is, swine and the now obsolete herd "herdsman", which survives mainly in compounds.^[7][6][8] The OED notes that the compound was formed in the same way in the other Germanic languages: Middle Dutch swīnherde, Old Saxon swīnhirdi, late Old High German swīnhirti (modern Schweinehirt) and Old Norse svínahirðir.^[9] The first element continues Proto-Germanic *swīną,^[10][11] and the second Old English hierde, which is related to the word for a herd of animals.^[6][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who keeps or tends pigs: first recorded in an Old English glossary,^[9][5] in late Old English according to Etymonline and Dictionary.com.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has hardly changed since Old English.^[9] In early records the word is frequent as a surname, as in Peter le Swynhirde (1310) and Robert le Swynerde (1332).^[9] Forms with a reduced second element, like those of shepherd, were common, but the modern pronunciation keeps the full herd, probably as a spelling pronunciation.^[9] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as a keeper of hogs.^[13] A rare use for a boar, the master of the herd, is recorded about 1610.^[9] Collins now labels the word archaic.^[14]

Timeline

• Old English – a keeper of swine, in a glossary.^[9][5]
• c. 1610 – a boar (rare, obsolete).^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A person who looks after pigs or swine.^[14][3][9]

Word family

• swineherdship
• swineherdess

Related words

• cowherd
• goatherd
• gooseherd
• herd
• herdsman
• neatherd
• shepherd
• swanherd
• swine

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
5. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins