porpoise [LME] A porpoise is a ‘hog-fish’ for its name comes, via various French forms, from post-classical Latin porcopiscis formed from classical Latin porcus ‘pig, pork’ and piscis ‘fish’ (origin of the astrological Pisces [OE]). In Old English a porpoise or dolphin could be a mereswine formed from mere ‘sea’ (now only used of standing water) and swine, a description found in other Germanic languages, and in Middle English a sea-swine, so the identification is widespread. This is probably because porpoises were considered good eating. Indeed, the first known record of the word in English is as a recipe for cooking ‘porpoise in broth’. Compare porcupine.