A Thorny Problem

(Robbie's Photo Art)

Nova Scotia has some wildlife that we do not see in New York. Before breakfast our German shepherd, Buddy, had a brief encounter with a porcupine (erethizon dorsatum, meaning "irritating back") under the forsythia bush opposite the front door. He ended up with small quills in his mouth and front paws, so he spent the forepart of the day at the veterinary office in Lunenburg, where, under anaesthesia, the doctor and assistant removed most of the quills. Some very tiny quills may still work themselves out over time. Porcupine derives from the Latin words porcus, -i m. pig and spina, -ae f. thorn, spine. A porcupine is a slow-moving rodent covered in sharp quills. We knew a porcupine was about, but we had seen it up in the pine tree or wandering off the property. Now we know to stay vigilant; as we say in Latin: Experientia docet. (Experience teaches.) In case you, too, have porcupines around, find out what porcupines like to eat.

From porcus we also get the English words pork and porcine, and from spina we also have the words spine and a musical instrument from France called the epinette des Vosges, a relative of the mountain dulcimer.