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If anyone’s curious that isn’t actually true. Piglet is derived from pig by assigning the suffix of -let to imply it’s smaller. https://www.etymonline.com/word

If anyone’s curious that isn’t actually true. Piglet is derived from pig by assigning the suffix of -let to imply it’s smaller. https://www.etymonline.com/word/piglet https://www.etymonline.com/word/piglet

LarryMullins 4y ago
Pig originally meant a young hog, with swine referring to mature hogs. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pig#Etymology_1 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pig#Etymology_1 > From Middle English pigge (“pig, pigling”) (originally a term for a young pig, with adult pigs being swyn), apparently from Old English picga (attested only in compounds, such as picgbrēad (“mast, pig-fodder”)), from Proto-West Germanic piggō, puggō (“piglet”). Compare Middle Dutch pogge, puggen, pigge, pegsken (“pigling”), Middle Low German pugge, pûke (“piglet”). The word applied to an immature animal rapidly gaining weight, so it probably derives from the verb "to big" (build, increase), from Middle English biggen, byggen, from Old Norse byggja, byggva (“to build”), from Proto-Germanic būwijaną (“to build”), from PIE bʰuH- (“to become, to grow”). Pokorny suggests this root might be somehow related to bū-, bew- (“to blow; swell”), which could account for the alternation between "pig" and "big".* > A connection to early modern Dutch bigge (contemporary big (“piglet”)), West Frisian bigge (“pigling”) and similar terms in Middle Low German is sometimes proposed, "but the phonology is difficult".[1] Some sources say the words are "almost certainly not" related,[2] others consider a relation "probable, but not certain".[3] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hog https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hog > 2. (specifically) An adult swine (contrasted with a pig, a young swine). In any case, hog is not derogatory. The comment I was responding to was ridiculous, so I flipped the script to demonstrate that.

LarryMullins 4y ago

Pig originally meant a young hog, with swine referring to mature hogs. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pig#Etymology_1 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pig#Etymology_1 > From Middle English pigge (“pig, pigling”) (originally a term for a young pig, with adult pigs being swyn), apparently from Old English picga (attested only in compounds, such as picgbrēad (“mast, pig-fodder”)), from Proto-West Germanic piggō, puggō (“piglet”). Compare Middle Dutch pogge, puggen, pigge, pegsken (“pigling”), Middle Low German pugge, pûke (“piglet”). The word applied to an immature animal rapidly gaining weight, so it probably derives from the verb "to big" (build, increase), from Middle English biggen, byggen, from Old Norse byggja, byggva (“to build”), from Proto-Germanic būwijaną (“to build”), from PIE bʰuH- (“to become, to grow”). Pokorny suggests this root might be somehow related to bū-, bew- (“to blow; swell”), which could account for the alternation between "pig" and "big".* > A connection to early modern Dutch bigge (contemporary big (“piglet”)), West Frisian bigge (“pigling”) and similar terms in Middle Low German is sometimes proposed, "but the phonology is difficult".[1] Some sources say the words are "almost certainly not" related,[2] others consider a relation "probable, but not certain".[3] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hog https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hog > 2. (specifically) An adult swine (contrasted with a pig, a young swine). In any case, hog is not derogatory. The comment I was responding to was ridiculous, so I flipped the script to demonstrate that.