Thanks to all you who took the time to do some research and respond to this request.



Here is what I got back:



Piggy Bank

Oxford English Dictionary has the earliest known use of the term, as 'pig savings bank', in 1913, but suggests that there may be a connection to 'pig' or 'piggy' in the sense of a pot, pitcher, or jar, made of earthenware, for which it quotes Scots dialect from 1631 "reddie money in ane littell pynt pig" (ready money in a little pint pig); the sense of earthenware vessel goes back to c.1450.



Best wishes



Andrew

--

 Dr. Andrew Millard                       [log in to unmask]  

 Durham University

 Senior Lecturer in Archaeology              Tel: +44 191 334 1147

 Deputy Director of Combined Honours         Tel: +44 191 334 3006



ear Mindy,

    There is a nice explanation of WHY the piggy bank cam into existence in a somewhat terrifying book by a French ethnographer, Cladine Fabre-Vassas 1997. The Singular Beast. New York:Columbia University Press.p.41. 



"The merchant handles an animal that, like money  grows without effort, becoming for him, among other things, a very lucrative unit of value ‒ the image of the piggy bank is not in the least bit arbitrary."



I personally cannot think of any examples of piggy banks before late medieval -early modern times at the earliest but that means little. I am really curious about the results of this search.



Alice Choyke



Dear Zooarchers:  A quick hunt through the Compact Oxford English Dictionary of 1971 shows that this is not a problem for the zooarchaeologist, but the pottery specialist.  It's not the animal pigge (like other Middle English animal names, like dogge or frogge), but from pygg, a medieval term for earthenware pots, jars or miscellaneous vessels (what the pottery-analysts call coarseware).  The earliest use for this form the OED could find is in The alphabet of tales of c.1440:  

 

'Eurick day was broght vnto hym a lofe of bread and a pygg with wynne and a light candyll' ('Every day was brought to him a loaf of bread, a pig with wine and a lit candle').

 

In Wiki-Knowledge pygg meant a cheap orange clay, but the OED says its origin is not clear.  It is probably one of the many local medieval spellings of pug, (according to the OED) clay beaten with water and inclusions until plastic, and ready to be formed into vessels or bricks. 

 

So a piggy-bank meant a coarseware vessel for storing coins.  The piggy-shape came later due to confusion with the animal-name. Its's not the only time these have become confused; the OED points out that pigging in Scotch can mean buying either pigs or crockery.

Greg Campbell

________________________________________

From: Nadja Poellath <[log in to unmask]>

To: [log in to unmask]

Sent: Tuesday, 27 July, 2010 8:51:36

Subject: [ZOOARCH] AW: Origin of the Piggy Bank



Interestingly the German language adopted the English piggy bank as

'Sparschwein' (Schwein = pig; sparen = save money)

http://www.sprachfetzen.de/blog/das-sparschwein-kommt-aus-england/



Nadja Pöllath

Institut für Paläoanatomie und Geschichte der Tiermedizin

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität

Kaulbachstr. 37

80539 München



Phone: ++49-(0)89-2180-2053

Fax: ++49-(0)89-2180-6278

E-Mail: nadja.poellath(at)palaeo.vetmed.uni-muenchen.de

Website: http://www.palaeo.vetmed.uni-muenchen.de/index.html



Dear All,



A contribution from our Colleague Derek Hall, Scottish Medieval  

pottery expert, which supports Greg's finding:



'Up here in Scotland we call them 'pirlie pigs', I have lots of  

examples of these vessels from the Stenhouse kilns and elsewhere.  

Scots Thesaurus tells me that a 'pigger' is a dealer in earthenware or  

a maker and seller of pottery also a 'pigmaker' is a potter or maker  

of coarse pottery.  I actually don’t think the 'piggy' in piggy bank  

has anything to do with the animals of the same name!



Amongst the Scots names for pigs are 'grumphie' (Aberdeenshire,  

Wigtown) and 'gussie' (Argyll)…'



All best wishes,

Ruby

And in Cumbrian dialect (northern England) the "piggin" is a rough pottery cup or bowl:



"Wi' horns and glasses to drink frae ; 

And piggins, and mugs, bit nought varra dainty,"



"piggins o' frummety [barley and milk]"



"A piggin o' that wid a bit o' sote fish, 

Maks a dinner for rich or for poor."



"Cumbriana or Fragments of Cumbrian Life" 1876: http://www.archive.org/stream/cumbrianaorfragm00dick/cumbrianaorfragm00dick_djvu.txt



Sue Millard



Dear Mindy

I suspected that the 'pig' in 'piggy bank' probably involved false cognates or changes in word meaning...off the top of my head, perhaps it was related to the term pig as used in metal production, eg a lead or silver pig. A quick google for pig etymology brought up a number of interesting sites to reference. The wiki site (always to be used with caution, but no need to ignore) provides some interesting and reasonable sounding info which could be further followed to verify:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piggy_bank

In Middle English, "pygg" referred to a type of clay used for making various household objects such as jars. People often saved money in kitchen pots and jars made of pygg, called "pygg jars". By the 18th century, the spelling of "pygg" had changed and the term "pygg jar" had evolved to "pig bank." [3]

Once the meaning had transferred from the substance to the shape, piggy banks began to be made from other substances, including glass, plaster, and plastic.

cheers

Pam Cross







Melinda A. Zeder

Senior Scientist, Archaeobiology Program

Curator, Old World Archaeology

National Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Institution

PO Box 37012

Washington D.C. 20013-7012

Office: 202 633-1886

Lab: 301 238-1024

Fax: 202 357-2208

[log in to unmask]

________________________________________

From: [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]

Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2010 5:49 AM

To: Zeder, Melinda; [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] Origin of the Piggy Bank



Dear Mindy

I suspected that the 'pig' in 'piggy bank' probably involved false cognates or changes in word meaning...off the top of my head, perhaps it was related to the term pig as used in metal production, eg a lead or silver pig. A quick google for pig etymology brought up a number of interesting sites to reference. The wiki site (always to be used with caution, but no need to ignore) provides some interesting and reasonable sounding info which could be further followed to verify:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piggy_bank



In Middle English<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English>, "pygg<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygg>" referred to a type of clay used for making various household objects such as jars<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jar>. People often saved money<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money> in kitchen<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen> pots<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_pot> and jars made of pygg, called "pygg jars". By the 18th century, the spelling of "pygg" had changed and the term "pygg jar" had evolved to "pig bank." [3]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piggy_bank#cite_note-2>



Once the meaning had transferred from the substance to the shape, piggy banks began to be made from other substances, including glass<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass>, plaster<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaster>, and plastic<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic>.



cheers



Pam





Pamela J Cross

PhD researcher, Bioarchaeology

AGES, University of Bradford

BD7 1DP UK

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or [log in to unmask]

http://www.barc.brad.ac.uk/resstud_Cross.php