porco

Forms

porco m (plural porci, feminine porca)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin porcus (“pig”).^[2][3][4][1] The word is panromance: French porc, Occitan porc, Catalan porc, Spanish puerco, Portuguese porco, Sardinian porcu and Romanian porc.^[3][5] The French word gave English pork.^[3]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *porkos, from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos; de Vaan takes the original meaning as “digger”, from the root of the word for “furrow”.^[6][1] Devoto notes that the word belongs to the north-western Indo-European languages and named the domestic animal, not the wild boar.^[7] Its cognates include Old Irish orc, Old High German farah (whence German Ferkel), Old English fearh (whence English farrow), Lithuanian paršas and Old Church Slavonic прасѧ (prasę).^[3][6]

Latin had the derivatives porcārius (“swineherd”), porcellus and porcīnus, the sources of porcaro, porcello and porcino.^[2][3] porcospino continues Vulgar Latin *porcospīnus, a calque of Ancient Greek ἀκανθόχοιρος (akanthókhoiros), and porcile was modelled on ovile.^[2] DELI notes, after Eugenio Coseriu, that exclamations such as porca l'oca and porco cane follow the pattern of similar Greek expressions.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Monza Glossary of the 10th century.^[8][3] The first dated Italian text that DELI gives is the Sienese family records of 1231–1262: per uno porco che véne da monte Grosoli (for a pig that came from monte Grosoli).^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

From the start porco named the domestic pig and its meat;^[8] Old Italian also had porco selvatico or porco cinghiale for the wild boar, porco spinoso for the porcupine and pesce porco for a shark.^[8] Dante (before 1321) first applies it to a morally filthy, vicious person, and in his Inferno the damned run biting “like the pig when it is let out of its sty”.^[2][9]

The adjective, “indecent, disgusting”, appears in Luigi Pulci (1483).^[2] In modern use it is a strong intensive, un freddo porco, and the first word of many oaths and exclamations, from porca miseria to blasphemies.^[4][10] The phrase gettare le perle ai porci echoes the Gospel of Matthew (7:6).^[10]

Timeline

• 10th century – Porco appears in the Monza Glossary.^[8]
• 1231–1262 – The Sienese family records use porco for a pig.^[2]
• 1325 – Porchetta is recorded at Perugia.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses porco for a vicious, depraved person.^[2]
• Before 1367 – Fazio degli Uberti writes porco spino “porcupine”.^[2]
• 1483 – Luigi Pulci uses porco as an adjective, “indecent”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pig, the domestic maiale: Il contadino tiene tre porci nella stalla.^[4][11][12]
2. (by extension) pork, the meat of the pig.^[4][11][12]
3. (figurative, derogatory) A filthy person; a lecherous, obscene person; a disloyal scoundrel, often as an insult: brutto porco!^{[4][11][12][13]}
4. (literary) A wild boar, a cinghiale.^[4][11]

Adjective

1. (colloquial, derogatory) Terrible, rotten, disgusting, used as an intensive: un traffico porco, fare i propri porci comodi (to suit oneself regardless of others).^{[4][11][12][13]}
2. (vulgar) In curses and exclamations of anger or annoyance: porco cane!, porca miseria!^{[4][12][14][1]}

Word family

• porcaio
• porcaro
• porcello
• porcellino
• porcellone
• porcheria
• porchetta
• porcile
• porcino
• porcospino
• porcata
• porca

Related words

• maiale
• Latin porcus
• French porc

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include gettare le perle ai porci (to cast pearls before swine), mangiare come un porco and piede di porco (a crowbar).^[4][11][13] The feminine porca is “sow”;^[15][3] Tommaseo notes that the uncastrated male is verro, the castrated one maiale, and the female more often troia.^[15][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 338
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET