Pigs

[Michael Mccafferty]

Yes, I'll get around to that, Bob. In the meantime, I've checked six
French dictionaries covering the time from 1606 to 1835, and there's
nothing that shows up for "coche" with the meaning of "pig". I'd begun to
think, so I'm so not just beginning to think, that Taylor devised the
"coche" = "pig" thing because it made things easy to explain. But the jury
is still out.

Michael

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004, Rankin, Robert L wrote:

> The French linguistic atlas (ALF) is the place to look.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Mccafferty [mailto:mmccaffe at indiana.edu]
> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 8:17 AM
> To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
> Subject: Re: Pigs
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 18 Apr 2004, Rory M Larson wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I found it too.  Yes, it is a nice article.  Thanks for
> > the reference, everybody!
> >
> > Taylor actually suggests two different etymons: a Dutch
> > hog call Kus^-kus^kus^, and a dialectal French form of cocoche or
> > coucouche.
>
> Problem is, cocoche or coucouche, or even coche appear to be unattested.
> "Cochon" is the French term. There's also an old term for a coach gate
> at a castle or manor house "porte-cochere". Here "porte" is "door".
> However, a modern French speaker would probably interpret that "porte"
> as "carry". So, "porte-cochere," just "portefeuille" or "portemanteau"
> sounds like something that carries pigs. Pig humor.
>
> This message segues into the round-up of pig calls known in French
> Canada.
>
> Michael
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