vocabulary - Words for meat differ from the words for the corresponding animal


In English we have:



  • "beef" for "cow", "cattle"

  • "veal" for "calf"

  • "pork" for "pig"

  • "mutton" for "sheep"


I'm not aware of this separation for "fish", "goat" or "chicken" (Spanish has "pollo" and "gallina") and other poultry. Are these words used simply to distinguish the meat from the animal (i.e. to avoid saying "cow meat") or is there a psychological separation to avoid the association? I doubt the latter since these words developed when people were likely less squeamish than some are today.


Why are there not meat words for some animals?


What are some others I didn't list?



Answer



I believe that many of these come from the use of French in England amongst the aristocracy after the Norman conquest. Thus 'pork' (porc) is the posh word, 'pig' is the vulgar peasant (or English) word. I don't have any reference for this, but I heard it somewhere in my travels. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it does sound like a convincing story.


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