Mar

8

Porcelain

Filed Under P 

The word conveys images of Arabic merchants trading in India and stuffy British ladies sipping tea in their overly lavish tea rooms. It reminds me of Asia and purity, and fits nicely into any poem.

Jordan
California

Comments

One Response to “Porcelain”

  1. WILLOBIE on June 20th, 2008 9:17 am

    Porcelain also has the naughtiest etymology of any word in the English language. It comes from porcella or “little pig”. The name was given to the cowrie, a shellfish. The false etymology is that the back of the shell resembles the back of a pig. The true etymology is that the live part, which is “porcelain-like” resembles the female pudenda. How to link the pudenda to a little pig? Simple, it was a Roman nursery term for parts of baby girls. Little piggy - porcella.

    Dictionaries are split on this, but I believe Webster’s Third International has it right.

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