porcher

Forms

porcher m (plural porchers, feminine porchère)^[1] Old French porchier (about 1140); porcher appears in 1530.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also had porchir and porger.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French porchier, inherited from Latin porcārius (“swineherd”).^[2][3][1][5] In Classical Latin the word was an adjective, “of a sow”, from porca (“sow”), the feminine of porcus (“pig”), and Late Latin used it as a noun.^[6][3][7] The ending ⟨-er⟩ (1530) replaced Old French ⟨-ier⟩ by a change of suffix.^[3]

Cognate with Italian porcaio, Old Occitan porquier, Catalan porquer, Spanish porquero, Portuguese porqueiro and Romanian porcar.^[8][7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is porchier in Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis (about 1140), meaning a swineherd, the sense of the Latin word, which it has kept.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The Roman de la Rose sets the son of a porchier beside the son of a carter as an example of low birth,^[9] and Olivier de Serres wrote that a good pourcher could drive forty or fifty pigs.^[9] In familiar use a porcher was also a coarse, dirty man (1690, Furetière).^[6][9] The derivative porcherie “pigsty” dates from the 12th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Porchier appears in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis.^[2]
• 12th century – The derivative porcherie is recorded.^[7]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records the form porcher.^[2][6]
• 1690 – Furetière records the figurative sense “coarse man”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swineherd, a person who keeps pigs, or a farm worker who looks after them.^[10][2][11]
2. (figurative, familiar) A coarse, dirty man.^[6][9]

Word family

• porcherie

Related words

• porc
• pourceau
• Latin porcus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 184b
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)