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Свинья
Some say that pigs make great house pets. They call them charming and intelligent with expressive personalities. However, for most of us pig pets are too exotic. I mean, would you like to be awakened by loud grunting noises?
In Russian a pig is свинья. It is a word of feminine gender; in conversational Russian свин can mean a male pig, but when people talk about pigs they usually just use the feminine form
| Sg | Pl | |
| Nom | свинья | свиньи |
| Acc | свинью | свиней |
| Gen | свиньи | |
| Pre | свинье | свиньях |
| Dat | свиньям | |
| Ins | свиньёй | свияньми |
Russian pigs don't go “oink-oink”; they go хрю-хрю, which, in my opinion, makes sense; it reminds me of grunting sounds.
Figuratively both свинья and свин can be used to describe a messy person, while свинарник, “pigpen” could describe the filthiness of their home.
| Он такой неряшливый, просто свин! | He is so messy, a common pig! |
| Ты была у Маши дома? Такой свинарник! | Have you been to Masha's? What a pigpen! |
Also, it serves as an insult following one’s shabby act. In that case this person’s actions can be called свинство “swinishness” or “rudeness.”
| — Петя, какая же ты всё-таки свинья! Зачем ты моей тёте сказал, что ей надо меньше есть? — И это я свинья? Ты её вообще видела? Ей только пятачка не хватает! |
“Petya, you are such a pig! Why did you tell my aunt that she needs to eat less?” “You are calling me a pig? Have you ever seen her? All she's missing is a snout!” |
| — Как он мог со мной так поступить на глазах у всех его друзей? — Да, это свинство с его стороны, конечно! |
“How could he do this to me in front of all of his friends?” “Yes, of course, that was really rude of him.” |
We have a rather well used expression, свинью подложить, which means to intentionally cause trouble or play a dirty trick on them.
| Я никогда ей этого не прощу! Подруга называется - такую свинью подложила! | I will never forgive her! She calls herself a friend and then plays such a dirty trick on me! |
There is a theory that this expression comes historically from the ban on eating pork, свинина in Judaism and Islam. You can imagine someone, intentionally slipping a religious Muslim some pork in order to get them in trouble or cause mischief (source).
In Russian the mumps also have something to do with pigs: we call it свинка. The name comes from the look of one’s swollen cheeks when the salivary glands get inflamed. Incidentally, свинка is the diminutive form for свинья.
| — Ты не видел Катю? — Нет, она дома. Она свинкой болеет. |
“Did you see Katya?” “No, she's at home. She's got the mumps.” |
Another use of the word свинья is piggy bank, свинья-копилка. I found a really cute cartoon from the 1960’s that was based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, Свинья-копилка, “The Piggy Bank”.
2 comments
Perhaps the Russians were calling lead a pig? Folk etymology, I know...
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