pig(n.1)
Middle English pigge “a young pig” (mid-13c., late 12c. as a surname), probably from Old English *picg , found in compounds, but, like dog , its further etymology unknown. The older general word for adults was swine , if female, sow , if male, boar . Apparently related to Low German bigge , Dutch big (“but the phonology is difficult” — OED).
By early 14c. pig was used of a swine or hog regardless of age or sex. Applied to persons, usually in contempt, since 1540s; the derogatory meaning “police officer” has been in underworld slang at least since 1811.
The pigs frisked my panney, and nailed my screws; the officers searched my house, and seized my picklock keys. [“Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence,” London, 1811]
Another Old English word for the animal was fearh , which is related to furh “furrow,” from PIE *perk- “dig, furrow” (source also of Latin porcus “pig,” see pork ). “This reflects a widespread IE tendency to name animals from typical attributes or activities” [Lass].
Synonyms grunter (1640s), porker pig at sea, a superstition perhaps based on the fate of the Gadarene swine, who drowned. The image of a pig in a poke poke (n.1)). Flying pigs as a type of something unreal is from 1610s.
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