What’s In a Name?

Are guinea pigs from New Guinea? Do they belong to the pig family? Well, the answer to both questions is ‘no’. Guinea pigs neither originate from New Guinea, nor are they close relatives of the domesticated pig. Why then are guinea pigs called guinea pigs?

There are a number of theories that try to address the question of the unusual name. First, the origin of ‘guinea’ in guinea pig. One theory posits that the animals were brought to Europe by way of Guinea, thus leading people to believe that they had originated there. Another theory is the word ‘guinea’ is actually derived from Guiana, an area in South America; albeit it remains unclear wether the misspelling was intentional or merely a corruption of the original name. A third theory suggests that guinea pigs were named so because when they were originally sold in Great Britain, they were valued at one guinea. A guinea is an old British coin with a value of twenty one shillings. Unfortunately, this theory is based on a common misperception, as the first guinea pig was described in 1554 by a Swiss naturalist named Konrad Gesner, more than a century before the first guinea coin was tendered.

As to the origin of the ‘pig’ in guinea pig, it is addressed by a number of theories as well. One theory suggests they are named pigs because of the snort-like noises guinea pigs make when excited or happy. Another theory posits that they were named pigs because of their resemblance to small pigs, or because of their eating habits. Whatever the reason, the English language is not the only one that refers to ‘pigginess’. The scientific name for the species is cavia porcellus, with porcellus being Latin for little big. The Germans refer to them as Meerschweinchen (little sea pigs), in all likelihood because sailing ships stopping to refill provisions in the New World would pick up stores of guinea pigs as an easily transportable source of fresh meat. In fact, guinea pigs have been a source of meat going back to the Inkas, who kept them both as food sources and sacrificial offerings to the gods. The Russian and Polish names for guinea pigs are similar to the German one, morskaya svinka and winka morska respectively; while the Dutch call them guinees biggetje (Guinean piglet). In the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark they are called marsvin, which combines the Latin word for ocean — mare — with svin, meaning pig. Offering another geographical variation, the French call them cochon d’Inde, or Indian pig. Similarly, in Greece, they are referred to as indika xoiridia (Small Indian Pigs), and in Portuguese, the term is porquinho da india, meaning little pig of the Indies. Covering both geographical areas of reputed origin, the Italians refer to guinea pigs as either porcellino d’India, the little Indian pig, or cavia Peruviana, the Peruvian cavy. The odd culture out is Spain, as the common Spanish word for guinea pigs is ‘conejillo de Indias, or the Indian bunny rabbit.

Clearly, no general agreement on the geographical origin of guinea pigs is reflected in their names, while the perception of ‘pigginess’, albeit ranging far and wide, is not universal to all languages and cultures.

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