why is chicken called chicken, lamb called lamb, but cow is beef and pig is pork?

Question

I don't understand!!

Answer 1

It all goes back to Anglo Saxon times and the french invasion. The old brits used the names they were used to for the animals whereas the french brought in names such as Beouf for cow. It created different names thats all.

Answer 2

I didnt do any inet research, but good question. my brain told me, well my brain doesnt talk, well it does, sorta,,but wait.....
If I kill and eat a chicken, I am eating and useing the chicken.
If I kill and eat a lamb, I am eating Lambchops! I can kill and eat a big ole cow, I can eat the beef, and I can make tee pee wigiwam with the Cow Hide.
I can kill a pig and eat bacon bacon with eggs, I can also make a nice air of shoes with the Pig Skin.
Wait, lambskin and chicken skin, can also make a wigiwam with them.
Our talking is language is so interwoven with everyone elses, that is one of the reasons why we fight. No wonder English is taught in the schoolyards. Cause we cannot afford to pay teachers and build fences.And ifin ahurricane was to ever hit Washignton DC. I betcha there wouldnt be people still waiting for a houses.
Cause the Goverment says Beef is a Cow is a Pig is a Pork is why we fight religions that we dont agree with, this week,,,,,,

Answer 3

Actually - what we call "Chicken" my Auntie insists is "Hen"! And it's Bull that's beef isn't it? Is lamb ALWAYS lamb? Or is it sometimes sheep? Pork is pork because the animal is porcine. We just say pig.

Answer 4

It depends from which language the word is derived from, Anglo Saxon/Old English, French or Latin.

lamb
• noun 1 a young sheep. 2 a mild-mannered, gentle, or innocent person.
• verb 1 (of a ewe) give birth to lambs. 2 tend (ewes) at lambing time.
— DERIVATIVES lambing noun.
— ORIGIN Old English.
mutton
• noun the flesh of mature sheep used as food.
— PHRASES mutton dressed as lamb Brit. informal, derogatory a middle-aged or old woman dressed in a style suitable for a much younger woman.
— ORIGIN Old French moton, from Latin multo, probably of Celtic origin.
deer
• noun (pl. same) a hoofed grazing or browsing animal, the male of which usually has branched bony antlers that are shed annually.
— ORIGIN Old English, originally also denoting any quadruped.
venison
/vennis’n/
• noun meat from a deer.
— ORIGIN Old French venesoun, from Latin venatio ‘hunting’.
chicken
• noun 1 a domestic fowl kept for its eggs or meat, especially a young one. 2 a coward. 3 informal a game in which the first person to lose their nerve and withdraw from a dangerous situation is the loser.
• adjective informal cowardly.
• verb (chicken out) informal be too scared to do something.
— ORIGIN Old English.


Got the hang of it? Generally speaking when the meat product has the same name as the animal, it is derived from Old English/Anglo Saxon. When the meat product has a name different to the animal it is derived from French and/or Latin.

Answer 5

It's all to do with the Norman conquest. The proud conquerors were rather selective as far as food is concerned. They tended to see meat when it arrived already cooked on their table and they gave it French words -- boeuf (beef), porc (pork), veau (veal) and, to be fair -- poulet (pullet/chicken) and mouton (mutton).

Meanwhile the poor Anglo Saxon serfs were looking after the animals and so thought of them as living creatures rather than meat. Chicken, lamb and, for that matter, cow and bull all have Anglo-Saxon names.

As a rule of thumb: cooked meat normally has a name of Norman French origin and raw meat (on the hoof) of Anglo-Saxon origin.

Answer 6

when we eat we use the French derived name when it is growing the Old English name is used. The French Normans were masters and ate well, the English peasants looked after the stock and paid taxes. It was sheep and mutton. Lamb is relatively modern, Mutton has the stronger flavour. Chicken and poultry.

Answer 7

The words beef and beef and various similar words in english derive from the the tyrant duke william and his gang of brutal thieves who invaded and conquered england in 1066. They were so complete of themselves that it took about 2 hundred years for the 'new' aristocracy. to study the language of the country that they had conquered. therefore we've norman french words for fairly some issues in english as well because the words that were already right here. case in point the note hound for a canines develop into probable from this time too.

Answer 8

The words beef and pork and lots of similar terms in english derive from the the tyrant duke william and his gang of brutal thieves who invaded and conquered england in 1066.
They were so full of themselves that it took about 200 years for the 'new' aristocracy. to learn the language of the country they had conquered. Hence we have norman french words for a lot of things in english as well as the words that were already here.
For instance the word hound for a dog was probably from this time too.

Answer 9

Because the Angles spoke a French dialect and after they conquored the Saxons in England they refered to meats and other foods by their French names when it was served on the table but the Saxons used their Saxon words for the animal when it was being raised on their farms. In other words they were the peasants and the Angles were the consumers. Eventually the languages merged into Anglo-Saxon, the foundation of modern English. The story is one worth telling, don't you think?

Answer 10

beef and pork sounds me apetizing than cow and pig. i picture a dirty pig playing in a puddle of mud and a cow chewing away at some hay in a bard wagging it's tail if someone were to say "do you want a cow or chicken burger?" to me.