mereswine

/ˈmɪə(ɹ)ˌswaɪn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English mereswyn (“porpoise, dolphin”), from Old English mereswīn (“porpoise, dolphin”), from Proto-West Germanic *mariswīn, from Proto-Germanic *mariswīną (“dolphin, porpoise, cetacean”). By surface analysis, mere + swine or mer- + swine.

mereswine means A porpoise or dolphin. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.

Why this word is great

MERESWINE — [Noun] An archaic term for a porpoise or dolphin, literally meaning "sea-pig." From Old English mereswīn, from Proto-Germanic *mariswīną, a compound of *mari ("sea") and *swīną ("swine, pig"). Unlike "porpoise," a precise taxonomic anchor, or "dolphin," a name polished by classical myth, "mereswine" is a peasant's blunt metaphor cast upon the deep. It evokes the rounded, dark back breaking the grey water with a porcine roll; the sudden, snorting exhalation from a mist-shrouded bay; the corpulent shadow gliding beneath a dory—a naming born of weary recognition that our first taxonomy for wonders clothed the marvelous in the mud of the farmyard.

noun

A porpoise or dolphin.