SC - Pigs revisited-long

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"Decker, Terry D." wrote, in response to Ras and Mordonna:
> 
> > >  The fact that the
> > >  word he used is 'pig' and not 'hog' is what I find significant. He was not
> > >  stating that hogs that large were unsual. He was clearly staing that he
> > > found the story of a 'pig' that large unusual. I agree with him.
<snip>

> Thinking about this, I would first question the quality of the translation
> and second I would wonder if Platina is trying to describe a species
> differentiation without having the proper vocabulary to do so.

Platina uses the word porcus, which my Latin dictionary translates as a
pig or hog, with the feminine porca meaning sow. Another, slightly more
generic term is sus, which translates as sow, swine, pig, or hog.
Possibly the distinction as modernly applied simply didn't exist, or was different.

I did just find a semi-clue in my (pfeh!) Webster's Dictionary: it seems
apparent both pigge and hogge are beginning to be used in Middle English
over the Anglo-Saxon schwein variant words. The gist of what I read
seems to be that a pig is a pig, whereas the word "hog" may be derived
from both Anglo Saxon and Old Norse words meaning to hew or cut. The
implication seems to be that the word "hog" is applied over "pig" when
the animal is castrated, which would certainly tend to produce a fatter
animal, if not necessarily a larger one. This doesn't mean all hogs are
necessarily castrated, but that all castrated pigs end up as hogs, more
or less. 

Now we know capons are specified in many Middle English recipes, and
there seems to be little doubt as to how they were produced, but I don't
recall seeing any evidence regarding the production or consumption of
castrated steers (probably either because cattle were sometimes expected
to do a little work before slaughter, or else because even immature
bulls tend to become upset when you slice off delicate portions of their
anatomy, and express their displeasure in various violent ways). Has
anyone ever heard of a period example of castrating bulls or pigs to
produce large, docile meat animals?    
 
Adamantius, off looking for Tacuinum Sanitatis
Østgardr, East
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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