Fun Fact of the Day: Weird Quirk of English Language History: The Animal vs. What we Eat

Why is it that the bird is a “Chicken” but we eat “Poultry?”  The animal is a “Cow,” but we eat “Beef?”  The animal is a “Pig” but we eat “Pork?”

The answer is…the Norman Invasion of 1066!

Prior to 1066, England was run by English Kings. After William the Conquer took over England in 1066, the nobility that ran the country were French.  For 300 years in England, French was the language of the ruling class and English was the language of the peasants.   An English peasant would raise chicken but the French lord would eat “poulet,” the French word for chicken.   Pig in French is “porc” and “boeuf” is cow in French.  Over time the eaten version of the animal became the French word for the animal.

An argument can be made that during this period of time French added so many words into English that English can almost be considered a romance language. This period is also why two related languages like English and German sound so different.

Happy Friday and Happy Haloween!