英文词源
- porpoise
- porpoise: [14] The porpoise is etymologically the ‘pig-fish’. The word comes via Old French porpois from Vulgar Latin *porcopiscis, a compound formed from porcus ‘pig’ (source of English pork) and piscis ‘fish’ (a relative of English fish) and based on the model of Latin porcus marīnus ‘sea-pig’. The name may have been suggested by the porpoise’s snout.
=> fish, pork - porpoise (n.)
- early 14c., porpas, from Old French porpais (12c.) "porpoise," literally "pork fish," from porc "pork" (see pork (n.)) + peis "fish," from Latin piscis "fish" (see fish (n.)).
The Old French word probably is a loan-translation of a Germanic word meaning literally "sea-hog, mere-swine," such as Old Norse mar-svin, Old High German meri-swin, Middle Dutch mereswijn "porpoise" (the last of which also was borrowed directly into French and became Modern French marsouin).
Classical Latin had a similar name, porculus marinus (in Pliny), and the notion behind the name likely is a fancied resemblance of the snout to that of a pig.
中文词源
来自古法语porpais,猪鱼，海豚，来自porc,猪，词源同pork,peis,鱼，词源同fish.因海豚圆鼓鼓的肚子形如猪肚而得名。
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：porpoise 词源，porpoise 含义。
词根por-指“猪”，来自拉丁语porcus“猪”，同源词如pork（猪肉）、porcine（猪的）；词根-pois-指“鱼”，来自拉丁语piscis“鱼”，和单词fish（鱼）同源，这是昨天提到的p、f音变的又一例子；所以该词字面义“像猪的鱼”，猜测可能和海豚壮硕的体态有关。
