porcus

Latin

porcus fēmina et porculus (a female pig and piglet)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *porkos, from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos (“young swine, young pig”). Cognate with Old English fearh (“young pig, hog”). More at farrow. Compare also Ancient Greek πόρκος (pórkos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpor.kus/, [ˈpɔrkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpor.kus/, [ˈpɔrkus]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

porcus m (genitive porcī); second declension

1. a piglet, a young pig
2. (more generally) a pig, hog
3. Short for porcus marīnus (“sea-hog, mereswine, porpoise”).
4. (derogatory) glutton, pig
5. female genitalia

Usage notes

• For the semantic shift of “pig” to “female genitalia”, compare the same Ancient Greek use of χοῖρος (khoîros).

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	porcus	porcī
Genitive	porcī	porcōrum
Dative	porcō	porcīs
Accusative	porcum	porcōs
Ablative	porcō	porcīs
Vocative	porce	porcī

Synonyms

• (pig): sūs

Derived terms

• caput porcī (“a wedge-shaped battle formation”)
• porca
• porcārius
• porcaster
• porcella
• porcellīnus
• porcelliō
• porcellus
• porcetra
• porcilia
• porciliāris
• porcīnārium
• porcīnārius
• porcīnus
• porcula
• porculātiō
• porculātor
• porculus
• porcus marīnus (“sea-hog, mereswine, porpoise”)

Descendants

• Corsican: porcu

  Gallurese: porcu

• Dalmatian: puarc
• Eastern Romance:
  • Aromanian: porcu
  • Romanian: porc
• Emilian: pôrch, pōrc
• Italian: porco
• Ligurian: pòrco
• Neapolitan: puorco
• Old French: porc
  • Middle French: porc
    • French: porc
  • Norman: por
  • → Middle English: pork, porc, porke
    • English: pork
    • Scots: pork, porc, porck
• Old Leonese:
  • Asturian: puercu
  • Mirandese: puorco
• Old Occitan: porc, puerc, puerch
  • Occitan: pòrc
• Old Galician-Portuguese: porco
  • Fala: porco
  • Galician: porco
  • Portuguese: porco
    • Kabuverdianu: porku
    • Macanese: porco
    • Papiamentu: porko
    • → Guaraní: poryko
    • → Kaingang: porko
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: puerco
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: purcit (suffixed)
  • Romansch: portg, piertg; püerch, piertg
• Sardinian: porcu, polcu, procu
• Sassarese: porcu
• Sicilian: porcu, poccu
• Venetian: porco
• → Alemannic German: Porgge

References

• “porcus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “porcus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• porcus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• porcus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Anagrams

• corpus