query: whales and dolphins vs. pigs and lambs

[Paolo Ramat]

It Ital. we call 'bue marino' ("sea ox") the Dugong dugong, but I never 
heard of a 'porco marino' ("sea pig").
Best,
Paolo

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Prof. Paolo Ramat
Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS)
Responsabile della classe di Scienze Umane
V.le Lungo Ticino Sforza 56, 27100 Pavia - Italia
Tel. +39 0382 375811 Fax +39 0382 375899


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Charles Smith" <johncharles.smith at stcatz.ox.ac.uk>
To: "Alexander Vovin" <sashavovin at gmail.com>
Cc: <histling-l at mailman.rice.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 9:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Histling-l] query: whales and dolphins vs. pigs and lambs


> Dear Sasha,
>
> French marsouin 'porpoise' (and so a type of dolphin) appears to have been
> borrowed in the eleventh century from Old Norse marsvin, literally 'sea 
> pig'.
> Various Germanic languages, at various stages of their existence, have 
> called
> a porpoise a 'sea pig' (compare German Meerschwein, Danish marsvin), 
> although,
> in a bizarre twist, this word can mean 'guinea pig' in many of these 
> languages, a
> meaning which sometimes replaces the sense of 'porpoise' and sometimes 
> exists
> alongside it.  English porpoise itself comes from Old French por[c]peis, 
> por[c]pois
> 'pig fish'.
>
> In Pliny, we find the expression porculus marinus 'little sea pig', but it 
> is not
> clear what it refers to (some people have claimed he means a porpoise). 
> See
> Alfred C. Andrews, 'Greek and Latin mouse-fishes and pig-fishes', in 
> Transactions
> and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 79 (1948), pp. 
> 232-253.
>
> Don't know if any of this helps.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> JC
> -- 
> John Charles Smith
> Official Fellow and Tutor, St Catherine's College, Oxford, OX1 3UJ, UK
> Deputy Director, Research Centre for Romance Linguistics, University of 
> Oxford
> tel. +44 1865 271700 (College) / 271748 (direct) / 271768 (fax)
>
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