Hogs not Pigs

J. Mn.'s remark on "hogs, lambs a year old," reminds me that the origin of this rustical word still lingers in the remote west, among the Irish and the Highland Gaels, whose *gnath-bearla*, vernacular tongue, furnishes the neglected key of many a dark chamber. The word to which I allude is "og," *adj.* young; whence "ogan," a young man; "oige," a virgin. In these islands we still apply the old French term "aver," *averium*, in Guernsey, to the hog or pig; in Jersey, to a child. In France "aver" denoted the animal produce or stock on a farm; and there were "averia lanata" likewise. Similar appa…