porcellus

Forms

porcellus m (genitive porcellī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive formed from Latin porcus (“pig”) + -ellus.^[2][3] More exactly, it is a diminutive of porculus (“little pig”);^[4][5][1] the TLL, after Leumann, explains ⟨-ellus⟩ as the result of syncope in a double diminutive.^[6] Porcus goes back to Proto-Italic *pork-o- and Proto-Indo-European *pórḱ-o- (“digger, pig”).^[7] It is cognate with Umbrian purka (“sow”) and Lithuanian par̃šas.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is the first author with the word, in his treatise on agriculture, of young pigs.^[7][4][8]

Semantic evolution

It meant a young or sucking pig, a piglet;^[2] Phaedrus uses the plural of the young of a wild sow.^[4][5] Suetonius and Pliny the Elder also have it,^[4] and inscriptions record it between about AD 60 and 230, mostly in Africa and Italy.^[9] The spelling porcillus also occurs.^[2][6]

It remained in use in early medieval law codes and capitularies, such as the Salic law,^[10] and in British sources, which distinguish sucking piglets from weaned ones and older pigs.^[11] It lives on in Romanian purcel, Italian porcello and Sardinian porcheddu.^[1]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of piglets.^[4][8][10]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of the young of a wild sow.^[4][10]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in the life of Nero.^[4][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young or sucking pig, a piglet.^[2][4]
2. (plural) The young of a wild sow.^[4][5]

Word family

• porcella
• porcellinus
• porcelliō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Kaše, Vojtěch; Heřmánková, Petra; Sobotková, Adéla et al. (2024), LIST: Latin Inscriptions in Space and Time, v1.2 (EDCS + EDH), Aarhus: SDAM, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10473706
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press