Meat
Meat (/mi:t/) is animal muscle that is consumed as food.
English words for meat are often derived from Norman French (see French), as shown in the table below. e.g. When it's running around a field, it's a sheep, but when it's dead and on your plate, it's mutton. This is because the Anglo-Saxon peasants raised the animals, and referred to them by Anglo-Saxon names, whereas after the Norman Conquest the new Norman overlords wanted their menus in French. In most other languages, by contrast, the name for the animal and the name for the meat are the same or only slightly different.
Animal | Name of meat | Etymology |
---|---|---|
cattle | beef | Cognate to modern French boeuf |
deer | venison | Cognate to modern French venaison, meaning game meat |
domestic fowl | poultry | Cognate to modern French poule, meaning hen. |
pig | pork | Cognate to modern French porc |
sheep | mutton | Cognate to modern French mouton |
Consumption of pork is a religious social taboo in many cultures where Islam or Judaism is the dominant religion. Consumption of beef is similarly a religious social taboo in India due to the Hindu religion.
Teflpedia has some vegetarianism conversation questions.