Etymologically
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porca

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpɔr.ka][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɔr.ka][1]

Forms

porca f (genitive porcae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The ridge between furrows is inherited from Proto-Italic *pork-ā- (“furrow”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥ḱ-h₂- (“furrow”).[2][1] Cognate with Welsh rhych (“furrow”), Gaulish rica (“furrow”), Old High German furuh (“furrow”) and English furrow.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato, who prescribes ridges five feet wide.[2][3] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the ridge of soil thrown up between two furrows, a balk, as in Cato and Varro.[3][4] Döderlein distinguishes it from sulcus, the furrow itself, and līra, used for either.[6] In southern Spain it was a unit of land area, as Columella reports.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of ridges between furrows.[3][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.[4][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a Spanish land measure.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A ridge between two furrows, a balk.[3]
  2. A unit of land area in southern Spain.[3]

Word family

  • imporciō
  • porcilia
  • porculētum

Usage notes

It is distinct from porca “sow”, the feminine of porcus, used especially of a sacrificial victim, as the porca praecīdānea offered before the harvest.[3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.