If cow = beef, pig = pork, and deer = venison, then where is the word for human = [flesh as food source]?

Question

Maybe it's the season of Halloween, because it's kind of a grim question, but I have seriously wondered from a language point of view - is there a word for human as 'food-meat', or has there ever been, in English or related historical languages?

Obviously, there is sanctity of life in civilization in general, and there is a taboo on cannibalism in western history, I know. And of course that taboo alone may explain what seems to be a sort of language gap.

But sometimes taboo doesn't mean there isn't a term for something, it just means a term may be hidden or buried (I'm sorry I can't think of examples off the top of my head but I remember learning about that for my English degree).

In addition, there is the shift between Saxon and Norman English when we ended up with a split for 'living animal' (cow, sheep, deer) and 'dead food-meat animal' (beef, mutton, venison).

But that does serve as a handy dividing line - on this side are the words for live creature, and on that side are the words for food.

If you line up 'cow, sheep, deer, pig' on one side of that line, you have 'food' words to put on the other. For 'human' or 'person' however, you don't.

Again, I know there are historical reasons, but I'm not wondering about the taboo, I'm wondering if there ever has been a word for this?

There is the word 'flesh' and it kind of implies 'non-specific meat.' As in 'deer flesh' or 'cow flesh.' Although it has quasi-religious connotations as in 'flesh of my flesh' and 'take of my flesh and eat it.'

Maybe 'flesh' alone is the word, considering the religious usage in the symbolism of communion?

But is there something more specific for those unsettling times when humans may have had nothing else to eat but other humans for survival - à la the Donner party? This has happened throughout time so is there a hidden word in English or historical languages related to English for humans as food meat?

Again, I'm not trying to be grim or unsettling. I've seriously wondered about this for several years.

Answer 1

There be some as call it long pig.

Long pig is an antiquated term for human flesh, eaten by cannibals. Purportedly, the term long pig is a translation of a phrase used in the Pacific Islands for human flesh intended for consumption. Early explorers and missionaries who contacted cannibal Pacific Islanders were told that human flesh tasted similar to pork, thus the term long pig.
[Grammarist]

Answer 2

No, there is no equivalent, but if there were...

It would probably be something like ouvrier.

The reason English has different words for the animal and the food is that the word for the food comes from French - the language of the ruling class.

From the link:

• mutton = mouton (sheep)
• beef = boeuf (cow)
• veal = veau (calf)
• pork = porc (pig)

So it stands to reason that the word for "person-flesh" would be derived from a French word for person. Now, there are lots of word for person, man or human in French, but most are near homonyms - and a French noble asking his English servant for "personne" may draw disdain.

But asking for a slice of braised ouvrier - or in the English laborer - may be a little more tasteful.

Answer 3

Although there have been euphemisms for human meat, you seem to be wondering specifically about why human meat in particular doesn't have a well-known "dead meat food name" like other meats.

It would just be "human".

The reason is that "food" words are the rare exception, not the rule, due to an historical accident. I mean "rare" here in the sense that, of the many meats in the world eaten by English-speaking humans, exceedingly few of them have names in English that are "food" words.

The only words for meat in English that differ from the name of the animal are those few items that crossed the tables of the Norman lords after William's invasion of England in the 11th century. Because they spoke French, the normal French words for those animals were adopted as fancy names for their meat in English, by those English who aspired to reach high society by aping their Norman masters.

This process only happened for those few meats favoured at lordly tables though. It didn't get applied to foods on peasant tables, or on no-one's tables. It is therefore not a general rule in English that a meat has a special name distinct from the name of the animal; the few you note are actually the rare exceptions to the actual rule: that in general, meat is called after the animal. We call chicken meat chicken, fish meat fish, clam meat clam, turkey meat turkey, bison meat bison, horse meat horse, dog meat dog, squirrel meat squirrel, alligator meat alligator, etc.

Because human meat, like dog and cat and rat meat, would not have appeared on Norman tables, it never received a "food" name derived from badly-pronounced Norman French. (Even if human meat had appeared on Norman tables, it is unlikely that their English vassals and subjects would have attempted to copy them for the little bit of reflected prestige—more likely there would have been bloody revolution, and English today would have far fewer words borrowed from French.)

Of course, there are euphemisms for human meat—long pig, long pork, "the other other white meat"—but those exist to hide the meat's origin and aren't "food" words in the sense that beef is the non-euphemistic "food" word for cow meat.

Answer 4

Brawn is historically used for all animals but I couldn't find a source that it is actually used for human flesh as food source. Although, the contemporary definition covers the fleshy parts and muscles of a human.

The obsolete definition of brawn from OED:

The muscle or flesh of animals as food.

The contemporary definition of brawn from OED:

Fleshy part, muscle; esp. the rounded muscles of the arm, leg and thumb.

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As a single word, you might consider bakolo as a loan word as it usually appears in anthropological contexts. It is a term from Fijian language used by cannibal tribes.

From the Men from Under the Sky: The Arrival of Westerners in Fiji By Stanley Brow (2013):

From The Anthropology of War By Jonathan Haas (1990):

Answer 5

I've seen some references to it as "manflesh"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BpcArRYTpE

Interesting, the word does appear to exist (as translated word) in Tibetan

Answer 6

(I don't have enough reputation to reply to JNF so here is my "answer")

The words mouton, veau et bœuf don't refer more to food in opposition to the animals : they simply refer to both of them. However, "porc" refers to food more often that it does to the animal. "Cochon" is more common word for the animal.

To answer Nick T, Irish would translate to Irlandais but I don't see how this helps.

To conclude, since Lego Stormtroopr thinks French language leads to English in this case, we simply say "chair humaine" in French which would translate to "human flesh". I know OP specified it was not what he was looking for but I may lead to another, more helpful answer.

Source : I'm a french native speaker.

Answer 7

Well, you also have "Manbeef."

This term was used back in 2001-2002 for a fantastically elaborate hoax site ostensibly selling well... "Manbeef" of various cuts and pre-processed products as well (i.e. sausages, ground Manbeef, hot dogs, etc.) And while they did use their name quite liberally, the most common term they used was "Human Meat." The extensive use of this label follows the reasoning given by a number of other answers. However, within the several pages of "product literature" a number of other euphemistic and literal terms for human "meat" were used extensively. Unfortunately, the site as recorded by archive .org is completely inoperative. I will check around to see if I can find somewhere or someone that has a cached/archived copy of the site since it does have yet even more terms used for this meaning.

You can find some info about the former site at: http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/manbeef.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ManBeef.com http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/manbeef.asp

Also, here is a flash "advertisement" they had as well ("Human Meat" used throughout): http://wheretruthlies.com/MeatPlanet/manbeef-ad.swf

UPDATE 2014-10-20: Well, I found a date in archive.org that actually functions. However, this particular iteration of the site only contains the terms "Manbeef" and "Human Meat" from a quick glance over some of the pages. So, either there was some point at which they had changed the copy for the site, or (and entirely within the realm of possibility given that it has been approx. 14-15 years since I've seen this) my memory had failed me and this was the only copy all along.

WARNING! While this site was a hoax, it is NOT for the feint of heart or squeamish! If it freaks you out... well, you were forewarned.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010331042026/http://www.manbeef.com/processing.html