Etymologically
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porcus

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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
  • 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