Meat Names.

[Jim Brady]

Can anyone answer this,why do we call meat from a cow BEEF,from a pig PORK or Bacon from a sheep LAMB or from the calf VEAL.
Regards.
Jim.

[john sutton]

before William the conquerer we called meat by the name of the animal as do some north European and Germanic countries now.After William the French interpretation took hold either by force or fashion so we called meat by the French names

[Keith at Tregenna]

cow, is from Middle English "cou”

The word beef is from the Latin bōs

K.

[Jim Brady]

Is beef boeuf and cow vache in French ?

[robpage]

The Beouf , Porc , and Mouton , are Norman French , rather than the modern French of Today

[Keith at Tregenna]

You are both correct, much just stems from history: Both words beef and cow have the same Indo-European root. As John mentioned, after the Norman Conquest the French-speaking nobles who ruled England naturally used French words to refer to the meats they were served. Thus various Anglo-Saxon words were used for the animal (such as nēat, or cu for adult females) by the peasants, but the meat was called boef (ox) (Modern French bœuf) by the French nobles —who did not often deal with the live animal— when it was served to them.

This is one example of the common English dichotomy between the words for animals (with largely Germanic origins) and their meat (with Romanic origins) that is also found in such English word-pairs as pig/pork, sheep/mutton and chicken/poultry.

Beef is cognate with bovine through the Late Latin bovīnus.

K.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Sorry Rob, I would have been typing when you posted, but most in all the posts is a fairly correct as answers.

K.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Can anyone answer this,why do we call meat from a cow BEEF,from a pig PORK or Bacon from a sheep LAMB or from the calf VEAL.
Regards.
Jim.

Well Jim I call them that becos thats what me Ma called them!

[Geoff Bray]

What do you call it , if you buy your meat from Tesco's

[Ivan Cloherty]

What do you call it , if you buy your meat from Tesco's

Now there's quality you can bet on!