porcus

Latin

porcus fēmina et porculus (a female pig and piglet)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

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.

	singular	plural
nominative	porcus	porcī
genitive	porcī	porcōrum
dative	porcō	porcīs
accusative	porcum	porcōs
ablative	porcō	porcīs
vocative	porce	porcī

Synonyms

• (pig): sūs

Hyponyms

• scrōfa (sow; female pig)

Derived terms

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

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: porcu, porc
  • Istro-Romanian: porc
  • Megleno-Romanian: porc, porcu, puorc
  • Romanian: porc
• Dalmatian:
  • puarc
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: porcu, polcu, procu
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: porcu

    Gallurese: porcu

    Sassarese: porcu

  • Italian: porco
  • Neapolitan: puorco
  • Sicilian: porcu
• North Italian:
  • Emilian: pôrch, pōrc
  • Ligurian: pòrco
  • Friulian: porc ⇒ purcit
  • Piedmontese: pors, peurc ⇒ porcòt, porchèt
  • Romansch: portg, piertg (Sursilan, Sutsilvan), püerch (Puter, Vallader), piertg, portg (Rumantsch Grischun, Surmiran), püerch (Puter, Vallader)
    • → Alemannic German: Porgge (presumably)
  • Venetan: porco
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: porc
  • Occitan: pòrc
  • Old French: porc (see there for further descendants)
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Leonese: [Term?]
    • Asturian: puercu
    • Mirandese: puorco
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: porco
    • Fala: porco
    • Galician: porco
    • Portuguese: porco (see there for further descendants)
  • Spanish: puerco

Further reading

• “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, procus, spurcō