Porcelain – a ceramic ware made in a more or less translucent ceramic. In English also referred to as “china”. This because until the 17th century all porcelain came from China.
We have all seen items in porcelain. As plates on the table, tea cups or decorative figurines. It is an everyday word, no thrill.
What is so fascinating about this word is the etymology.
Porcelain comes from the Italian “porcellana” – a cowrie shell. It is understandable since they look like they are made of the same material.
In Latin the same shell was named “porcella”. This means “female piglet”.
But it also means the outer female sex.
Have you ever turned a cowrie shell over? It does not demand too much imagination to get the resemblance.
Now, where does that female piglet get into the picture? Was it just another word for the same thing, just like we have other words for the private parts today? Or was there simply a resemblance between the porcella shell and a little piglet?
Sources:
WordWeb
Wiktionary
Svenska Akademins Ordbok
5 comments:
I know this word but you put it in a new light for me.
Although my spellcheckers always need to remind me about how it is spelled the word itself is no real thrill, I agree. The origin is the more interesting.
I could not write without spellchecker for I am trapped in the Broken Mirror Universe since my wonderful car wreck in 1975.
The origin of this word made for a good post.
Hello,
Would the answer to your question be in the stupendous picture by Wackenberg that you have used? The flesh of that back, its dimples and curves are so tempting that one can easily imagine them to be as "tasty" as the meat of a young piglet...
cheers!
Thank you for your explanation. If so, it is an association that I guess I need a more of a male imagination towards women than I've got. In Swedish young women are - if vulgar - referred to as lambs, so it's very possible that you're right :-)
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