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The Romans called them "thorn hogs"; what do we call them?



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Answer: porcupines

The word porcupine derives from the Latin porcus, hog and spina, thorn.

According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the word had many forms in Middle English and early Modern English "including portepyn, porkpen, porkenpick, porpoynt , and Shakespeare's version, porpentine (in 'Hamlet')."

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