Hello and welcome once more to the English Language Clinic. This week I have been asked an interesting question about food. "Why does the word ?chicken? describe an animal and something you can eat, but you can?t eat ?cow? and ?beef? is not an animal?" This may sound a bit like a history lesson, but ?bear with me? (a polite way of saying "pay attention").

In 1066, William of Normandy invaded England. For the next 300 years ?or so? (an informal way of expressing that a number is approximate) the aristocracy, spoke Norman-French, but the peasants spoke Anglo-Saxon. The peasants called the animals by their Anglo-Saxon names, i.e. cow, pig and sheep. The aristocracy, on the other hand, called the same animals by their French names, which over the years changed into the words we recognise today; beef, pork, mutton, etc.

The important difference between the peasants and the aristocracy (as far as answering this question is concerned) was that the peasants looked after the animals but did not eat a lot of meat, because it was so valuable. The aristocracy did eat a lot of meat but had little to do with the living animals. It has been suggested that this is the reason why there are now separate words for the animal and the meat. But this only answers half the question. The reason why ?chicken? is an animal and something you eat is that the Norman-French did not eat a lot of ?chicken?, therefore only one name remains. The same is true of ?turkey?, ?rabbit? and ?goat?.

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