porc

Forms

porc m (plural porcs)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin porcus (“pig, swine”), according to the TLFi, Rey and the Petit Robert;^[2][3][4] Wiktionary has it inherited through Old French porc, and Bloch and Wartburg simply give the Latin word.^[1][5][6] The Latin word at first named the domestic pig, while sūs covered wild and tame swine alike;^[2][3] the former, a fuller word with a regular declension, drove out the latter, which survives only in a Bourbonnais dialect word for the sow.^[2][3] Latin also had verrēs for the boar and scrōfa for the sow.^[3]

The word belongs to only part of the Indo-European area: Rey compares Old High German farah and, after Benveniste, holds that the Latin word first meant the young animal;^[3] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos (“young pig”).^[3][1] The Petit Robert compares English farrow and German Ferkel.^[4]

Cognate with Italian porco, Spanish puerco, Portuguese porco, Catalan porc, Occitan porc and Romanian porc.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (1100) for the domestic animal: Cil sont seret ensement come porc “they are bristled like pigs”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Porc names, as in Latin, the domestic animal raised for its meat, and especially the adult male; in this sense it competes with cochon, once clearly distinct, and in common use it has replaced pourceau.^[3][4] By metonymy it means the meat, first in char de por (Wace, about 1155), then alone in porc salé (1538) and porc frais (1688); Bloch and Wartburg note that it is used above all for the meat.^[2][3][5] The sense “wild boar” (1170), like porc marin “porpoise”, has died out.^[2][3]

From the early 13th century it was an insult for a dirty, gluttonous, coarse or debauched man, harsher than cochon.^[2][3][4] It also names the tanned skin of the animal.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1100 – First recorded in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Wace has char de por “pork”.^[2][3]
• 1170 – Wace uses it for the wild boar.^[2]
• c. 1209 – The Reclus de Molliens uses it as an insult for a dirty man.^[2][3]
• 1302 – The derivative porcherie takes its present form.^[3]
• 1389 – Porchaison, a hunting term, is recorded.^[3]
• 1538 – Estienne records porc salé.^[2][3]
• 1688 – Richelet records porc frais.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pig, the domestic animal raised for its meat; especially the adult male.^[4][8][1]
2. pork, the meat of this animal: porc salé, porc frais.^[4][2][1]
3. pigskin, the tanned hide: des gants en porc.^[4][8]
4. (figurative, familiar) A dirty, gluttonous, coarse or debauched man; swine.^[4][8][1]
5. (Quebec, slang, derogatory, usually plural) A police officer, a cop.^[1]
6. (dated) Porc sauvage: the wild boar.^[8][4]

Word family

• porcin
• porcherie
• porchaison

Related words

• porcher
• pourceau
• porcelet
• porc-épic
• truie
• Latin porcus

Usage notes

Porc and cochon were once clearly distinct, much as English pig and pork are;^[3] cochon is the more familiar word and, as an insult, often jokey, while porc is harsher.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 189a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse