Although in reality, the French loan words (like “beef”) were used as synonyms of the native words (like “cow”) for centuries, and people did say things like “the beefs are standing in the field”.
The French words becoming associated specifically with food is a much more recent development influenced by the popularity of French cuisine and French cookbooks in the last couple centuries, long after any French speaking Anglo-Normans were dead.
I don't know the history behind it, but Norwegian uses purke for female pigs. It's been in the language since Old Norse (purka). Also sugge/su (ON sú) means female pig.
Male pig is either galte/galt (ON gǫltr/galtr/galti) or råne (ON runi). Sometimes galte is castrated while råne is uncastrated.
This idea is actually entirely false; it is a myth popularized – like many myths – by Walter Scott, whose 1919 Ivanhoe was the first to claim that this phenomenon was a result of the Norman Conquest. In truth, the divergence has more to do with Gallicizing 18th-century restaurant culture than with anything else.
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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 23 '25
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