swineherd Not in colloq. use.
(ˈswaɪnhɜːd)
Forms: see swine and herd n.2; also 5–6 swynnard(e, 5–6 swynard, 6–7 swinheard, 7 swinherd, swiniard, (also 9 dial.) swin(e)yard; 5 swynshyrd.
[late OE. sw{yacu}nhyrde: see swine and herd n.2 Cf. MLG. swînherde, OHG. swînhirti (MHG. -hirte, G. schwein(e)hirt), ON. sv{iacu}nahirðir (Sw. svinherde, Da. svinehyrde).
The normal form of the word would be represented by the pronunciation (ˈswɪnəd); cf. the old spellings swynnard, swinherd, and gozzard, shepherd (ˈʃɛpəd). The word has been refashioned in modern times on its etymological elements. For the variants swin(e)yard, etc., cf. swanyeard, etc., swanherd. See also swinward.]
1. A man who tends swine, esp. for hire.
| a 1100 in Zeitschr. für deutsches Altertum XXXIII. 239 Subulcus, swynhyrde. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) I. 9 A suynhird smote he to dede vnder a thorn busk. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 483/2 Swyyne herd (K. swynshyrd). a 1450 Knt. de la Tour lxxii, Ye shall sitte downe and ete here with the swyne-herthe. 1451 Lincoln Diocese Documents 51, I will my scheperd hafe vj. wedyr hogges; & my Swynnard iiij. Swynne. 1526 Tindale Mark v. 14 The swyne heerdes fleed and tolde it. 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 19 This man [sc. Justinus] in his youth was but a swin-heard. 1590 T. Watson Eglogue Death Walsingham Poems (Arb.) 157 When eurie swynard shall exceede his borne. c 1622 Rowley, etc. Birth of Merlin iii. iv. 5 A swinherds wife, keeping hogs by the Forestside. 1640 J. Dyke's Sel. Serm. Ep. Ded. A iij b, The cooke, and the swineyard, the weaver, and kember. 1687 Bishop Marrow of Astrol. i. 36 Herds-men, or swinyards. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 504 Mr. Corbet..had his head cut off by two Swiniards in the time of the Rebellion in Ireland, an. 1641. 1726 Pope Odyss. xvii. 254 Where goes the swine-herd, with that ill-look'd guest? 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxv, I, Gurth, the son of Beowulph, the swineherd. 1846 Youatt Pig ii. 14 The swineherds [in Egypt] formed an isolated race, outcasts from society. 1872 Tennyson Last Tourn. 626 When had Lancelot utter'd aught so gross Ev'n to the swineherd's malkin in the mast? |
† 2. ‘A term for a boar, he being the head or master of the herd’ (Nares). Obs.
| 1607 Christmas Prince (1816) 24 Then sett downe y⊇ Swineyard, The foe to y⊇ Vineyard... Lett this Boares-head and mustard Stand for Pigg, Goose and Custard. |
Hence ˈswineˌherding, the tending of swine; ˈswineˌherdship, the position of swineherd.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. iv. xxi. (1589) 88 An Vnder-Swineheard ship did serue, he sought not to be chiefe. 1872 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 113 Cattle-breeding and swine⁓herding. 1899 Q. Rev. Apr. 443 (tr. Heine), I have returned to God like the prodigal son after my long swineherdship among the Hegelians. |