Q. Why is beef called beef and not cow?
Via Answerbag:
Beef is from the French "boeuf" which means cow, and por from the French "porc", pig. Likewise mutton is from the French "mouton" sheep. Back in Norman times, these were the main farm animals - turkey, chicken, etc. cam later. The poor farmhands who tended the live animals called them by their Anglos-Saxon names of cow, pig, sheep. The rich Norman lords called the meat they ate by their French names boeuf, porc and mouton. As the two languages merged to form the English we now speak, the meats kept different names from the animals. Later arrivals did not have this split.
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9 Comments
Haha, very interesting Damien!
And knowing is half the battle!
I actually did wonder about this awhile back. Interesting stuff.
that sounds interesting.
I was actually having a discussion about this with my Mrs the other day and neither of us could explain why. Now I can. Cheers
Very interesting, I have now learnt something new today
Hi,
My explanation about Beef/Boeuf (Btw, I’m french)
Beef = boeuf = a taurus which farmers take out “male organ” eish
Cow = vache = female
Interesting, great post :)
you know when you say beef, you do not think about this poor animal that some a week ago were eating green grass not caring about anything… but when you say cow you feel like you wanna become a vegeterian
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02 September 2008
Steve Crane11:26 am
Interesting; didn’t know that.