[LMB] AKICOT:L Bambi in Spanish & Italian

[Michael R N Dolbear]

> From: James <khavrinen at gmail.com>
> Date: 13 August 2006 00:36

> The reminds me of the story told by my Anthropology professor of his
> first realization that English is one of the few languages which uses
> different words for the animal and the meat we get from it (
> cows/beef, pigs/pork, sheep/mutton, etc. )  He was on an
	[...]
> In class, he attributed this difference to the fact that, after the
> Norman invasion, most of the nobility ( who could actually afford to
> eat meat frequently ) spoke French, while the peasants ( who raised
> the animals ) spoke an early version of English.  Therefore, people
> talking about the meat used one word, and people talking about the
> animal used another.

My memory was this was thought to be a UL, can't remember why.

But I know of no well supported explanation as why  mutton/beef/pork/veal
went one way and chicken/duck/lamb/pigeon/salmon/rabbit/hare /swan/wild
boar went the other except "languages are like that".

Little Egret