porcus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɔr.kʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɔr.kus]^[1]

Forms

porcus m (genitive porcī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pork-o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱ-o- (“young pig”), perhaps first “digger”, from the root of the word for “furrow”.^[2][1] Cognate with Umbrian purka (“sows”), Lithuanian par̃šas (“piglet”), Old High German farah (“piglet”) and Old English fearh (“piglet”).^[2][1][3] Varro compared Ancient Greek πόρκος (pórkos, “pig”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus speaks of pigs kept for sacrifice.^[3][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a pig, especially a male, a domestic swine, and in the plural pigs in general.^[5][6] Porcus fēmina was a sow and porcus lactēns a sucking pig, and the porcus Trōiānus was a stuffed pig.^[6][7] Nurses used it as a word for a girl's genitals, and it named two kinds of fish.^[5] Döderlein calls it a farmer's word, beside the general sūs.^[8]

Medieval writers distinguished home-fed pigs from those in pasture and sucking pigs, and pigs were paid as rent.^[9] It survives as Italian porco, Spanish puerco, Portuguese porco and Romanian porc, and Old French porc gave English pork.^[1][10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a farm's pigs.^[7][4]
• c. 1300 – English pork is recorded, from Old French porc.^[10]
• c. 1400 – English porcupine is recorded, from Old French porc-espin “spine hog”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pig, hog, swine.^[5][3]
2. Porcus lactēns, a sucking pig, porcus Trōiānus, a stuffed pig.^[6][7]
3. The female genitals (nurses' word).^[5][1]
4. A kind of fish.^[5]

Word family

• porca
• porcārius
• porcellus
• porcīnus
• porculus
• porcella
• porcellīnus
• porcelliō
• porcētra
• porcilia
• porciliāris

Related words

• scrōfa
• sūs
• English pork
• English porcupine
• English porpoise

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com